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3204: Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs

2026-02-09T14:17:29Z

2600:4040:9CE3:7600:DE98:E7B:F354:8AF2:

{{comic
| number = 3204
| date = February 6, 2026
| title = Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs
| image = dinosaurs_and_non_dinosaurs_2x.png
| imagesize = 370x283px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Staplers are actually in Pseudosuchia, making them more closely related to crocodiles than to dinosaurs.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a webserver that is often described as being a dinosaur; however, it is definitely not. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic explores the seeming paradox that certain extinct prehistoric species which are popularly thought of as being "dinosaurs" are, from a strict taxonomic viewpoint, not. It also takes into account the fact that all bird species are descended from dinosaurs and thus - again, from a strict taxonomic viewpoint - are themselves dinosaurs as well (see [[1211: Birds and Dinosaurs]]). To illustrate this, [[Randall]] provides silhouettes of dinosaurs, of entities that are widely thought of as dinosaurs but are not, of entities that are ''not'' widely thought of as dinosaurs but ''are'' (i.e., birds), and, lastly, of entities that are neither dinosaurs nor thought of as dinosaurs (which is funny{{cn}} because it's so all-encompassing as to be practically meaningless, just like it would be if you replaced the word "dinosaurs" by any other plural noun, or adjective).

=== Creatures that seem like dinosaurs and are dinosaurs ===
* {{w|Stegosaurus}}
* {{w|Triceratops}}
* {{w|Tyrannosaurus}} Rex, whose name literally translates to ''Tyrant-Lizard King'', was a Late Cretaceous dinosaur, living during the Maastrichtian Age at the very end of the period. It was a contemporary of Triceratops and Mosasaurs, also listed in this comic. T-Rex is arguably one of the most well-known dinosaurs, due to the recovery of intact skeletons, as well as successful marketing and pop-culture influences, such as ''Jurassic Park'', a movie of which Randall is a known fan.
* {{w|Diplodocus}}
* {{w|Velociraptor}}

=== Creatures that seem like dinosaurs, but are not ===
Dinosaur is a paleontology term which refers to a specific group of reptiles, based upon evolutionary lines, bone structure and living domain. However, it is also a popular science/cultural term which refers to extinct large reptiles, hence the confusion between what is scientifically included and what is culturally assumed to be included.

The creatures listed are:
* {{w|Mosasaur}}s were aquatic reptiles that existed during the Cretaceous. Although mosasaurs appeared in ''{{w|Jurassic World}}'', they are not closely related to dinosaurs. They actually evolved from lizards and are most closely related to either snakes or varanoids (such as the Komodo dragon).
* {{w|Plesiosaur}}s were another group of Mesozoic aquatic reptiles. Their place in the reptile family tree is debated, as they are not closely related to dinosaurs or any other living reptile.
* {{w|Pteranodon}} belonged to the group of flying reptiles known as pterosaurs. While dinosaurs and pterosaurs are both archosaurs and are more closely related to each other than other archosaurs (such as crocodilians; see title text explanation below), they diverged around 250 MYA, and are distinct enough to be entirely separate lineages.
* {{w|Dimetrodon}} lived in the Paleozoic, well before dinosaurs first evolved. They are synapsids, which makes them more closely related to mammals than to any living reptiles.
* {{w|Quetzalcoatlus}} was a genus of flying pterosaurs, like ''Pteranodon'', that lived in the Maastrichtian Age (the end of the Cretaceous) alongside mosasaurs, T-Rex, and many others. They were some of the largest flying animals in history, with wingspans up to 36 feet (11m). They were not, however, dinosaurs, as they had pterosaur ancestry.

=== Creatures that don't seem like dinosaurs, but are ===
Due to the popular depiction of dinosaurs as prehistoric large reptiles, many people don't view modern birds as dinosaurs. However, as Randall [[1211:_Birds and Dinosaurs|loves to remind people]], dinosaurs such as ''T-rex'' are more closely related (temporally, anatomically, and phylogenetically) to birds than to some other dinosaurs such as ''Stegosaurus'', and therefore, birds '''are''' dinosaurs in their own right.
* {{w|Penguin}}
* {{w|Heron}}
* {{w|Ostrich}}
* {{w|Pigeon}}
* {{w|Falcon}} or {{w|Petrel}} (both of them qualify)

=== Creatures that don't seem like dinosaurs, and are not ===
* {{w|Squirrel}}: mammal
* {{w|Stapler}}: not a living thing
* {{w|Pineapple}}: plant
* {{w|Human}}: mammal
* {{w|Bicycle}}: not a living thing

The title text is a further joke about taxonomy, seemingly predicated on the assumption that staplers are biological organisms (which they are not),{{Citation needed}} and can thus be sorted into taxa. ''{{w|Pseudosuchia}}'' is in fact the clade of archosaurs that includes crocodilians, and staplers bear a certain resemblance to the open mouth of a crocodilian. Also, "suchia" sounds a little like "sutures," and in some sense staples are pseudo sutures.

The original {{w|Linnaean taxonomy}} ''did'' at first have a top-level classification for "mineral" taxonomy, in addition to those for animal and plant, which {{w|Twenty questions#Popular variants|in its broadest sense}} might allow one to assign a stapler a taxonomic relationship with dinosaurs.

==Transcript==
:[A 2x2 chart where each of the four quadrants contains five silhouettes. These depict various animals, a few objects, and a human. Above each column and to the left of each row there are a label:]
:[Left column:] Are dinosaurs
:[Right column:] Are not dinosaurs
:[Upper row:] Seem like dinosaurs
:[Lower row:] Don't seem like dinosaurs

:[Here follows a list of what are in each of the four quadrants:]

:[Top left (seem like dinosaurs, are dinosaurs):]
:[Stegosaurus, triceratops, tyrannosaurus, diplodocus, and velociraptor.]

:[Top right (seem like dinosaurs, are not dinosaurs):]
:[Mosasaur, quetzalcoatlus, dimetrodon, plesiosaur, and pteranodon.]

:[Bottom left (don't seem like dinosaurs, are dinosaurs):]
:[Penguin, egret, falcon, pigeon, and ostrich.]

:[Bottom right (don't seem like dinosaurs, are not dinosaurs):]
:[Squirrel, stapler, bicycle, human (here depicted as Cueball), and pineapple.]

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Confusion matrices]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Velociraptors]]
[[Category:Squirrels]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

3204: Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs

2026-02-09T14:02:10Z

2600:4040:9CE3:7600:DE98:E7B:F354:8AF2: consolidation; we don't need both the smaller list and the sections

{{comic
| number = 3204
| date = February 6, 2026
| title = Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs
| image = dinosaurs_and_non_dinosaurs_2x.png
| imagesize = 370x283px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Staplers are actually in Pseudosuchia, making them more closely related to crocodiles than to dinosaurs.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a webserver that is often described as being a dinosaur; however, it is definitely not. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic explores the seeming paradox that certain extinct prehistoric species which are popularly thought of as being "dinosaurs" are, from a strict taxonomic viewpoint, not. It also takes into account the fact that all bird species are descended from dinosaurs and thus - again, from a strict taxonomic viewpoint - are themselves dinosaurs as well (see [[1211: Birds and Dinosaurs]]). To illustrate this, [[Randall]] provides silhouettes of dinosaurs, of entities that are widely thought of as dinosaurs but are not, of entities that are ''not'' widely thought of as dinosaurs but ''are'' (i.e., birds), and, lastly, of entities that are neither dinosaurs nor thought of as dinosaurs (which is funny{{cn}} because it's so all-encompassing as to be practically meaningless, just like it would be if you replaced the word "dinosaurs" by any other plural noun, or adjective).

=== Creatures that seem like dinosaurs and are dinosaurs ===
* {{w|Stegosaurus}}
* {{w|Triceratops}}
* {{w|Tyrannosaurus}} Rex, whose name literally translates to ''Tyrant-Lizard King'', was a Late Cretaceous dinosaur, living during the Maastrichtian Age at the very end of the period. It was a contemporary of Triceratops and Mosasaurs, also listed in this comic. T-Rex is arguably one of the most well-known dinosaurs, due to the recovery of intact skeletons, as well as successful marketing and pop-culture influences, such as ''Jurassic Park'', a movie of which Randall is a known fan.
* {{w|Diplodocus}}
* {{w|Velociraptor}}

=== Creatures that seem like dinosaurs, but are not ===
Dinosaur is a paleontology term which refers to a specific group of reptiles, based upon evolutionary lines, bone structure and living domain. However, it is also a popular science/cultural term which refers to extinct large reptiles, hence the confusion between what is scientifically included and what is culturally assumed to be included. While dinosaurs and pterosaurs had a common ancestor, the archosaur, they diverged around 250 MYA, and are distinct enough to be entirely separate lineages.

The creatures listed are:
* {{w|Mosasaur}}s are extinct aquatic reptiles, looking similar to a dolphin, that existed at the same time as the dinosaurs. Although mossaurs appeared in ''{{w|Jurassic World}}'', they had a different ancestor than dinosaurs.
* {{w|Plesiosaur}}.
* {{w|Pteranodon}} is a flying reptiles.
* {{w|Dimetrodon}} (lived well before the Mesozoic, and more closely related to mammals than to dinosaurs).
* {{w|Quetzalcoatlus}} was a genus of flying pterosaurs, related to pteranodons, that lived in the Maastrichtian Age alongside Mosasaurs, T-Rex, and many others. They were some of the largest flying animals in history, with wingspans up to 36 feet (11m). They were not, however, dinosaurs, as they had pterosaur ancestry.

=== Creatures that don't seem like dinosaurs, but are ===
As Randall [[1211:_Birds and Dinosaurs|loves to remind people]], birds are more closely related to dinosaurs such as ''T-rex'' (temporally, anatomically, and phylogenetically) than ''T-rex'' is related to some other dinosaurs such as ''stegosaurus'', and therefore, birds '''are''' dinosaurs in their own right.
* {{w|Penguin}}
* {{w|Heron}}
* {{w|Ostrich}}
* {{w|Pigeon}}
* {{w|Falcon}} or {{w|Petrel}} (both of them qualify)

=== Creatures that don't seem like dinosaurs, and are not ===
* {{w|Squirrel}}: mammal
* {{w|Stapler}}: not a living thing
* {{w|Pineapple}}: plant
* {{w|Human}}: mammal
* {{w|Bicycle}}: not a living thing

The title text is a further joke about taxonomy, seemingly predicated on the assumption that staplers are biological organisms (which they are not),{{Citation needed}} and can thus be sorted into taxa. ''{{w|Pseudosuchia}}'' is in fact the clade that encompasses all crocodilians, and staplers bear a certain resemblance to the open mouth of a crocodilian. Also, "suchia" sounds a little like "sutures," and in some sense staples are pseudo sutures.

The original {{w|Linnaean taxonomy}} ''did'' at first have a top-level classification for "mineral" taxonomy, in addition to those for animal and plant, which {{w|Twenty questions#Popular variants|in its broadest sense}} might allow one to assign a stapler a taxonomic relationship with dinosaurs.

==Transcript==
:[A 2x2 chart where each of the four quadrants contains five silhouettes. These depict various animals, a few objects, and a human. Above each column and to the left of each row there are a label:]
:[Left column:] Are dinosaurs
:[Right column:] Are not dinosaurs
:[Upper row:] Seem like dinosaurs
:[Lower row:] Don't seem like dinosaurs

:[Here follows a list of what are in each of the four quadrants:]

:[Top left (seem like dinosaurs, are dinosaurs):]
:[Stegosaurus, triceratops, tyrannosaurus, diplodocus, and velociraptor.]

:[Top right (seem like dinosaurs, are not dinosaurs):]
:[Mosasaur, quetzalcoatlus, dimetrodon, plesiosaur, and pteranodon.]

:[Bottom left (don't seem like dinosaurs, are dinosaurs):]
:[Penguin, egret, falcon, pigeon, and ostrich.]

:[Bottom right (don't seem like dinosaurs, are not dinosaurs):]
:[Squirrel, stapler, bicycle, human (here depicted as Cueball), and pineapple.]

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Confusion matrices]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Velociraptors]]
[[Category:Squirrels]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]