What about it makes the hyrax the closest living relative to the elephant?

Question

What about it makes the hyrax the closest living relative to the elephant?

Answer 1

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As early as 1798, hyraxes were grouped with elephants based on similarities in their skulls and feet, although they now have their own order, Hyracoidea. As well as having common gene sequences, hyraxes and elephants share eye-lens proteins and amino acid sequences in their blood haemoglobin.

Hyrax social structure is remarkably like that of elephants. Their close-knit colonies comprise several related females and their young. When young males reach maturity, the dominant male forces them out to seek kopjes new. Male conflict is surprisingly aggressive, especially in the mating season when the size of the males' internal testes (a feature shared with elephants) increases twenty-fold, presumably matched by increased testosterone levels.

Unlike the young of most small mammals, those of hyraxes are born with their eyes open and their coats on, and they can climb straight away. A long gestation (seven and a half months) and large, well developed young point to a much bigger ancestor.

Physical Characteristics

The hyrax is so unlike other animals that it is placed in a separate order (Hyracoidea) by itself. It is said to be the elephant's nearest living relative. This is true to a certain extent, but misleading since the relationship stems from a remote ancestor common to hyraxes, sea cows (dugongs and manatees) and elephants. These three are unlike other mammals, but they share various if disproportionate physiological similarities in teeth, leg and foot bones, testes (that do not descend into a s*****m) and other more obscure details.

The hyrax, also called rock rabbit or dassie, is a small furry mammal. It looks like a robust, oversized guinea pig, or a rabbit with rounded ears and no tail. Hyraxes have stumpy toes with hooflike nails, four toes on each front foot and three on each back foot. The longer, clawlike nails on the inside toes of the back feet are used for grooming and scratching. The bottoms of the feet have a rubbery texture to assist in climbing steep rock surfaces and trees.

Of the three hyrax species, two are known as rock (or bush) hyrax and the third as tree hyrax. In the field it is sometimes difficult to differentiate among them.

The rock hyrax has the widest distribution in East Africa. Its coat is yellowish or grayish-brown, and the dorsal spot (a bare scent gland on the back covered with longer hair) is covered with black or yellow hair. Its head is more rounded than other types of hyraxes, and the nose is blunt.