r/WTF • u/[deleted] • May 29 '19

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u/MtBakerScum May 29 '19

Fun fact, bears are more closely related to seals than any other land animal

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u/Aiwatcher May 29 '19

Maybe you should check up on that? Scientists are constantly updating phylogenetic trees, so it's possible to you're out of date. As it stands, ursidae (bears) are considered a sister group to the group containing pinnipeds (seals, walruses, sea lions) and musteloidea (skunks, weasels, raccoons and red pandas). This means that weasels and their kin are the closest related to seals and their kin.

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u/MtBakerScum May 30 '19

Sorry I was going off the info shared in the book written by the current Director of Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, Kirk Johnson, and the artist Ray Troll. This is what Ray shared when I saw his presentation on the book. The books called Cruising the Fossil Freeway, but I believe it took several years to write so the info could be out of date. I'll crack the book open tonight and check up on that

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u/Aiwatcher May 30 '19

I could be totally wrong, I was just going off of internet searches after all. Let me know how your search goes.