Distantly related mammals evolved similar inner ear shapes repeatedly and independently from each other



How can such complex traits evolve repeatedly over and over again by random mutations ?

at Scitechdaily:

A new study has shed light on the remarkably convergent [repeated] evolution in the inner ear of mammals, revealing that a group of highly divergent mammals known as Afrotheria and distantly related, but ecologically very similar mammals independently evolved similar inner ear shapes.


The first author of the study Nicole Grunstra (University of Vienna) writes:

We found that the inner ear shape is more similar between analogous species than between non-analogous ones, even when the latter share a more recent common ancestor and are therefore more closely related


Source:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-52180-1