Question: what is the relationship between chromosome number and the complexity of an organism?
Answer: The number of chromosomes does not correlate with the apparent complexity of an animal or a plant: in humans, for example, the diploid number is 2n = 46 (that is, 23 pairs), compared with 2n = 78, or 39 pairs, in the dog and 2n = 36 (18) in the common earthworm. There is an equally great range of numbers among plants.