You can also tell me what's wrong with the full version (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/herpetology.png). Be advised, the full version contains strong language and may not be suitable for all audiences. (Allison Welch, SC)
Thursday, March 3, 2011
What's wrong with this comic?
Leave a comment telling me one thing that's wrong with this comic. Your contribution will be considered for extra credit.
You can also tell me what's wrong with the full version (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/herpetology.png). Be advised, the full version contains strong language and may not be suitable for all audiences. (Allison Welch, SC)
You can also tell me what's wrong with the full version (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/herpetology.png). Be advised, the full version contains strong language and may not be suitable for all audiences. (Allison Welch, SC)
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7 comments:
I liked your note about the full comic potentially not being suitable for all audiences.. haha!
Reptiles appeared after amphibians and before mammals, not after.
I LOVE xkcd, glad to see you posting it up here!
Amphibians did not evolve from reptiles. It was the other way around.
Two quick things...
1) reptiles appeared before mammals
2) i'm sure not ALL ornithologists are assholes
(Cat, SC)
It says that lizards should be folded into ornithology, but they are not the most closely related to birds. Crocodilians are.
Caitlin, SC
Crocs and birds are sister taxa not lizards. Birds should be included in herpetology, because they are in Reptilia not the other way around because crocs (or lizards) are not birds. Also, the common ancestor of Reptilia evolved before the common ancestor of Mammalia. (Logan Bryan, SC)
This comic is wrong becuase birds are considered to be part of the Reptilia taxon. So birds are reptiles, reptiles are not birds. Also, birds are not a sister group to lizards, corcodilians are.
(Lauren Jindracek, SC)
Ding-ding-ding-ding!!
Caitlin, Logan, Lauren picked up on the fact that if ornithologists did in fact want some of the herps, they'd have to take crocs not lizards.
Lauren also notes that birds belong in with herps, not vice versa. I think it's much more common for herpetologists to want to take the birds than vice versa!
And, of course, Cat is right that many ornithologists are very nice people!!
By the way, the question of when amphibians, reptiles and mammals appeared depends on how you define amphibians and reptiles. The crown groups Lissamphibia and Reptilia probably appeared around the same time, both evolving from "amphibian-like" ancestors (i.e., they shared some ancestral characteristics with extant amphibians, but lacked the derived characteristics that define Lissamphibia, so they were not truly amphibians in the modern sense). Similarly, both Reptilia and Mammalia evolved from "reptile-like" ancestors that were not truly reptiles in the modern sense.
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