Phylogenetics is the study of the evolutionary relationships between organisms. In molecular phylogeny, the evolutionary distances between organisms are analyzed by comparing the DNA sequences of specific genes. These analyses confirm, for example, that seals are more closely related to dogs than to whales. At the most fundamental level, molecular phylogeny has revealed that all known organisms evolved from a common ancestor and can be grouped into five kingdoms, whose members are more closely related to each other than to members of other kingdoms.