Without numbers, this statement doesn't end the debate. Homology of human DNA to rat or chimp is nearly a match too, but we are radically different species. How close was the match, and how does this compare with comparisons to other closely related species (dog, wolf, bear, etc.). For example if there is a 99.97% match between the specimen random genomic DNA and coyote, versus a 96.43% match with small sample deviations then we could make this conclusion, otherwise, we could not.
Joe Conger of KENS 5 news provided a tissue sample from Canion’s preserved animal to Texas State’s director of the Wildlife Ecology program, John Baccus, and Baccus passed the sample on to Forstner’s lab, which normally does DNA testing on a large number of different kinds of animals from bats to toads. Forstner assigned doctoral student Jake Jackson Huntsville and master’s student Jim Bell of Pearland to the project, who viewed this as just another lab project--albeit with a pop-culture twist.
“DNA tells a story. It allows us to determine the difference between animal species, and while I thought it was a canid (one of the members in the dog family), I could not tell from the photographs which one it might be,” Forstner explained, pointing out that KENS 5 financed the testing. “From my perspective, we were interested in providing a direct answer from the DNA, testing the best guesses of experts by using the evidence from the animal itself.
“Jake extracted DNA from the sample, then we used PCR to generate template DNA and a Beckman Coulter Automated DNA sequencer to read that sequence,” he said. “We choose a part of the mitochondrial DNA genome that is very informative in mammals, called the D-Loop. Once we had the sequence, it was very easy to make an initial ‘match’ of the Cuero sample using the online genetic database, GENBANK. We also completed other analyses, but really, that first match told the tale.”
So you are conceding that this could be an early case of the zombie apocalypse?