A cat is discovered with a very short tail. What would prove that this change was caused by a genetic mutation and not because the cat lost most of its tail at some point in its life?
Question 8 options:
a physical examination of the cat
checking offspring for short tails
waiting to see if the tail grows back
a physical examination of the cat’s siblings
I'm not a biology expert but here is what I know:
A physical examination of the cat can determine if the cat has any injuries, for example a bite from a predator that caused the tail to come off. This might help with determining whether the change was caused by a genetic mutation or it was due to an accident.
Checking offspring also might help. A genetic mutation has a chance to be passed on to the next generation, but the offspring might also mutate.
The rest is not as helpful.
I think it is either a or b.
I hope this helped! :)