And watch our video about why we made it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eE2fCLay-Q
With our current understanding of evolutionary history and our strategy of cladistic naming, if we wanted to have both goldfish and sharks under a single group called “fish”, then mammals must also be called fish.
Thanks also to our Patreon patrons https://www.patreon.com/MinuteEarth and our YouTube members.
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To learn more, start your googling with these keywords:
– Phylogenetic tree: a branching diagram or “tree” showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological species
– Cladogram: a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms
– Monophyletic group (or clade): a group of organisms that consists of all the descendants of a common ancestor
– Paraphyletic group: all of the descendants of a common ancestor minus one or more monophyletic groups
– Similarity trap: people can name different species the same thing, only to find out they aren’t even closely related. We made a video about this phenomana: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flVK-rbeT4g
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Support us on Patreon: https://goo.gl/ZVgLQZ
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And download our videos on itunes: https://goo.gl/sfwS6n
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Credits:
Script Writer: Jasper Palfree
Script Editor: David Goldenberg
Video Illustrator: Sarah Berman
Video Director: Ever Salazar
Video Narrator: Ever Salazar & Jasper Palfree
With Contributions From: Henry Reich, Alex Reich, Kate Yoshida, Peter Reich
Music by: Nathaniel Schroeder: http://www.soundcloud.com/drschroeder
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References:
Weinstein, Bret (2016). On Being a Fish. Inference, Volume 2, Issue 3 September. https://inference-review.com/article/on-being-a-fish
Lahti, David (2016). An Ambivalent Amphibian (In response to “On Being a Fish”). Volume 2, Issue 4
December. https://inference-review.com/letter/an-ambivalent-amphibian
Podani, János (2013). Tree thinking, time and topology:
Comments on the interpretation of tree diagrams in
evolutionary/phylogenetic systematics. Cladistics Volume 29, Issue 3. May http://real.mtak.hu/9727/1/PodaniOnTreesFINAL.pdf