What did T. rex taste like? -AP Biology

       What did T. rex taste like? This posed question might seem a little odd, but surprisingly enough one is able to reason through what they could have tasted like using Cladograms. Cladograms are essentially maps of the evolution of several organisms. Cladograms require knowledge of the features of the organisms in order for an accurate lineage of the organisms to make.

http://schoolworkhelper.net/evolution-synapomorphies-cladogram/

         As seen in the example cladogram, there is a diagonal line with many forks and some forks have forks in them as well. This might appear to you as a tree, a trunk with branches coming off branches, although this feature of a cladogram is not apparent hear in more elaborate ones it becomes a lot more clear. Between the forks are features of the organisms whose branch extends off of the fork that is below the feature's name. For example amphibians have four limbs, bony skeletons  and vertebrae  but not amniotic eggs, hair, or eggs with shells. A person is able to tell how closely two organisms are related by looking at the distances from the fork of the branch of one organism to that of the other organism. For example a Ray-finned fish is not very related to Birds, but Primates and Rodents and Hares are very closely related. The fork where the branch of the two organisms meet would be where you would hind their most recent ancestor.


A link the website that reviews and explains Cladograms in more detail:

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/taste/