cuicocha t1_ixg0fu5 wrote
Little bit of context for the question that i had to look up: alligators and crocodiles are in the same order but different families, and their most recent common ancestor was in the late cretaceous (65+ million years ago). So that's not exactly "distantly related", but certainly less close than I'd expect given how similar they are.
FillRevolutionary900 t1_ixg2in6 wrote
Last common ancestor lived around 80 million years ago so "distant" compared to how close people expect them to be. "Distant" and "close" are generally relative terms. So alligators and crocodiles split off just a little bit of time (in evolutionary terms) after placental mammals and marsupials split from each other, which are generally considered to be distantly related to each other (relatively speaking, and especially useful when explaining to someone that the flying squirrel and the sugar glider are not close).
The earliest known whale ancestor that wasn't itself a cetacean is known from around 50 million years ago. It looked like a dog/raccoon and lived on land. Alligators and crocodiles split off more than 1.5x further back in time compared to then.
Finally, and this may blow your mind, at the time alligators and crocodiles last shared a common ancestors, humans and pigs also shared a common ancestor. So yes, I would reiterate that crocodiles and alligators are distantly related.
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