8 Animals With Surprisingly Common Ancestry  (3 of 5)

4. Jellyfish and Coral

While jellyfish and coral hold vastly different interests—the former is passionate about swimming and the latter absolutely loves not swimming—both belong to the phylum Cnidaria, a group of animals characterized by the presence of nematocysts, stinging cells used for capturing prey and defense. Within Cnidaria, jellyfish and coral exhibit two different life cycles: the free-swimming medusa phase and the stationary polyp phase. Jellyfish spend most of their lives as medusae, while corals are stuck being polyps, and so they must (and do) accept this. Nonetheless, jellyfish and coral share a common ancestry, evident in their shared morphology, physiology, and genetic makeup.

5. Birds and Dinosaurs

Birds are literally modern-day dinosaurs, having directly descended from a group of dinosaurs known as theropods, characterized by bipedalism, feathers, and hollow bones. Folks, what we’re getting at is that chickens are nothing more than tiny, clucking, edible T-Rexes. While it is true that birds have undergone significant adaptations for aerial locomotion, they retain many skeletal features and developmental patterns that mirror those of their dinosaur ancestors. This shared ancestry is further supported by the fossil record, which has revealed transitional forms between dinosaurs and birds, such as Archaeopteryx, a feathered dinosaur that possessed many bird-like characteristics.