Twitter Thread: Animals That Look Similar But Aren't Genetically Related At All

Every once in a while, we find out some random fact about an animal that seriously takes us off guard. We think we know them, and then suddenly we don't. Like when we found out that elephants hold funerals for their dead and worship the moon, that wild foxes really like banjo music and will stop to listen to it if you play it for them, and that ring-tailed cats are not actually cats. Yeah, we know - what?

There is so, so much to learn when it comes to animals. And today, twitter has discovered that though some animals look very similar to one another, they are not actually genetically related. Of course, said thread went viral, and people started freaking out. Like- who knew that a tiny elephant shrew is more closely related an elephant than an actual shrew.

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via @limitlessjest

We are sure that there are plenty of instances of things like this. The animal world is so huge. We are finding out new things every single day. Honestly, we love to see the interaction under this thread, the fact that people were as interested as we are in finding out more about this.
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via @limitlessjest

When we first saw these two pictures one next to the other, we did not think for a moment that these are two different animals. In our heads, they just registered as the same one. They really do look similar. The animal world is so cool, we don't know how we manage to ever forget it.
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via @limitlessjest
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via @Chinchillazllla
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via @Chinchillazlla
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via @MushroomWatcher
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via @MushroomWatcher
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via @iainvention
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via @OliviaSerio
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via @CallMeXennial
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via @CallMeXennial
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via @daemonicmoon
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via @friendlykitties
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via @ElectricClair
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via @whiteheatgames

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