Evolutionary implications of alternative rootings of a network:
Are the Giant Panda (Ailuropoda) and Red Panda (Ailurus) related?

    An unrooted network with four terminal taxa (above) can be rooted on any branch or the internode, that is, five places: on the branches leading to each of the four species, or on the internode. In the four-taxon carnivore example (below), the internode that separates the pairs (Ailuropoda + Ursus) and (Procyon + Martes) remains in the same relative place in any of the rootings. Different placements of the root have different implications for the relationships of Ailuropoda & Ursus: in the two bottom diagrams, they are not each others closest relatives.