You’re the Scientist!
​
Your Evolutionary FAMILY TREE

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Step 6: Analyze Data
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Example
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To analyze my data, I am going to identify traits that are shared among all three species—those that are shared between the dog and the human, the human and the frog, the frog and the dog—and those traits that are unique to each species. 

To the right is my filled-in Venn diagram depicting the traits and the species to which they belong. It shows us the traits that dogs, humans, and frogs all share as well as those that they do not.

The bar graph, below and to the right, also illustrates the number of similarities between the human, dog, and frog. It depicts the number of shared traits on the y-axis and the species comparisons on the x-axis.
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According to my data, dogs, humans, and frogs all share three different traits:

1. four limbs
2. two eyes
3. breathe air

 
Dogs and humans share seven total traits:

1. internal gestation
2. lactation
3. warm-bloodedness
4. hair
5. four limbs
6. two eyes
7. breathe air

While frogs and dogs only share five traits:

1. snout
2. four limbs
3. two eyes
4. breathe air
5. quadrupedalism

And humans and frogs just four:

1. four limbs
2. two eyes
3. breathe air
4. no tail

​So, dogs and humans share more with each other than either do to the frog.

This Venn diagram illustrates shared and unshared traits for frog-dog-human

This video illustrates ​how to complete
​your Venn diagram and analyze the results

This bar graph shows the number of similarities between the human, dog, and frog.

The Lab
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​Analysis:
Analyze the data that you collected and recorded in your Lab Notebook. As in the Example above, use the Venn diagrams provided to visualize and assess the data you have collected. Also, generate a bar graph (like that in the Example) to display our comparative trait data of your different species of primate. This will help you apply the comparative approach necessary to address research questions about phylogeny.

Go back to:

Step 5: Experiment

Step 4: Hypothesis

Step 3: Background Research

Step 2: Questions

Step 1: Observation

Introduction

​Go to Step 7:

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Copyright © New England Primate Conservancy 2020. You may freely use, copy and share these Learning Activities for educational purposes. 
​For questions or comments, e-mail us at info@neprimateconservancy.org.