Eli5 how come a chihuahua and a husky are genetically closer than a husky and a wolf ?

Question

More generally, how come animals from a single species are more closely related even though some of them might “look” more similar to another species ?

In: 7

Answer 1

Because the chihuahua and the husky are both descended from early domesticated dogs. Their shared ancestry is more recent than their ancestry with wild wolves.

Similarly, no matter how much like you your cousin looks, you are less strongly related to them than to your siblings.