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If you are coming to the Museum on Saturday, May 25, please use one of the following entrances: 79th Street and Central Park West, subway entrance, or Weston Pavilion (Columbus Avenue entrance). The 81st Street entrance will be closed, but the Hayden Planetarium Space Show will be shown on a normal schedule.

How Do We Know Living Things are Related?

Overwhelming evidence shows us that all species are related--that is, that they are all descended from a common ancestor. More than 150 years ago, Darwin saw evidence of these relationships in striking anatomical similarities between diverse species, both living and extinct. Today, we realize that most such resemblances--in both physical structure and embryonic development--are expressions of shared DNA, the direct outcome of a common ancestry.