One species of a small birdlike animal has an extremely variable tail length, which is a highly polymorphic trait. Geneticists have come to realize that there are eight separate genes for tail length per haploid genome, with each gene having two alleles. One allele for each gene (a, b, and so on) increases the length by 1 cm, whereas the other allele (a2, b2, and so on) increases it by 0.5 cm. One bird was analyzed and found to have the following genotype: a1a1b2b2c1c2d1d2e2e2f1f2g1g1h1h2. What is the length of its tail?
A) 6 cm
B) 36 cm
C) 8 cm
D) 12 cm
E) 24 cm
