Question

look at the table on the right. which of these two organisms are most closely related? brown rat and eastern cottontail rabbit brown rat and eastern gray squirrel eastern cottontail rabbit and eastern gray squirrel d k p c o f g s brown rat eukarya animalia chordata mammalia rodentia muridae rattus norvegicus eastern cottontail rabbit eukarya animalia chordata mammalia lagomorpha leporidae sylvilagus floridanus eastern gray squirrel eukarya animalia chordata mammalia rodentia sciuridae sciurus carolinensis

Explanation:

To determine relatedness, we check taxonomic levels. Organisms with more shared taxonomic ranks are closer. Brown rat (Rodentia) and Eastern gray squirrel (Rodentia) share the order Rodentia, while Brown rat and Eastern cottontail rabbit differ at the order (Rodentia vs Lagomorpha), and Eastern cottontail rabbit and Eastern gray squirrel also differ at the order. So Brown rat and Eastern gray squirrel are more closely related.

Answer:

B. Brown rat and Eastern gray squirrel