explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:809: Los Alamos

2015-06-03T00:09:45Z

Drcrazy102: My own little interpretation, not as long

How does trigonometry come into it?

[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 00:40, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

I think the joke of the title text lies in the word "spoiler alert".--[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.169|199.27.128.169]] 02:32, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Removed the following sentence from the explanation. ''Also, Steve says that he is 99% sure that it is "SOH CAH TOA, or COH SAH TOA," he is asking a question that doesn't work, since you can't be 99% sure that it is SOH CAH TOH or COH SAH TOA.''
It seems to stem from the explainer not understanding the comic. The "Although I'm 99% sure" is not a part of the question that follows, although it is part of the same sentence. Dashes are used to insert one sentence into another--like this--without changing the original sentence's meaning.
Steve's comment could be rephrased as "I have a question, although I'm 99% certain that I know the answer. Is it SOH CAH TOA, or COH SAH TOA? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.97|173.245.48.97]] 08:29, 28 May 2015 (UTC)
The comic also might be referencing a legend about how Trinity scientists came to Oppenheimer with their concern that the bomb might explode the world. He told them to run the math and if probability of destruction was under 1% they should still do the test (it was.) The comic implies then that the 1% probability has nothing to do with physics and is simply based on Steve's certainty about what Sine is.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.224|141.101.88.224]] 12:57, 1 June 2015 (UTC)

I feel that the comment is both about Steve being "99% sure" of the SOHCAHTOA, and the test being "99% sure" of not destroying the world, since Steve seems to be a mathematician behind the explosion size and effects of "The Gadget". [[User:Drcrazy102|Drcrazy102]] ([[User talk:Drcrazy102|talk]]) 00:09, 3 June 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1476: Ceres

2015-01-23T00:00:56Z

Drcrazy102: Just my idea

I'm not sure about Number 6 being a reference to The Prisoner. there's no other context in the comic to suggest that reference. {{unsigned ip|‎173.245.54.180}}

Number 6 could be a Battlestar galactica reference as well, which is again a reference to The Prisoner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_Six_%28Battlestar_Galactica%29 {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.252}}

The novel The WindWalkers (in French "La Horde du Contrevent") from Alain Damasio is the story of the 34th team of people walking against the wind to go past the end of the known world. A group is sent every generation from a starting point and they walk over decades as far as they can go. The team leader is called Golgoth and is the 9th descendant of his family leading a team. He is obsessed with the idea of getting farther than his father (Golgoth 8) and the others Golgoth before them. At one point, while the team thought having been farther than any other, Golgoth 9 finds a sign let by Golgoth 6 (whose team had been thought lost) that demonstrates they were not the first ones reaching this point.
Maybe the comics does not make reference to this event in the novel, but readers of the novel will likely think about it. [[User:Marou|Marou]] ([[User talk:Marou|talk]]) 08:42, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

: Wikipedia has a list of characters in books and/or films named {{w|Number_6#In_the_arts_and_entertainment|Number 6}}, so unless there is a clear reference, I suggest we stick to assuming that Number 6 is simply the identifying number of un-named CERES employee. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 11:16, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

Maybe include a picture of Ceres (the dwarf planet) to show the real white spot (not the inspection sticker) [[User:SirKitKat|sirKitKat]] ([[User talk:SirKitKat|talk]]) 09:14, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
: Or a ref to an [http://www.universetoday.com/118358/first-hubble-and-now-dawn-have-seen-this-white-spot-on-ceres-what-is-it/ image/animation] [[User:SirKitKat|sirKitKat]] ([[User talk:SirKitKat|talk]]) 09:16, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
: This image shows it really good: [http://d1jqu7g1y74ds1.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/2004HubbleRotation-580x515.jpg] (Images from the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004 of Ceres. Credit: NASA/Hubble) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.134|108.162.254.134]] 09:29, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

Ceres is also a brand of vegetable fat manufactured by [http://www.belusafoods.sk/1/index.php?kat=3&ac=5&id_p=170 BELUŠA FOODS s.r.o.] (no english version, sorry). Salmonela in this kind of Ceres would be very interesting but I doubt that Randal refers to this Ceres. [[User:Jkotek|Jkotek]] ([[User talk:Jkotek|talk]]) 09:31, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

Earth the planet contains salmonella.
--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.12|141.101.104.12]] 09:45, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
: I agree, in that sense the joke is much funnier and more closely related to the rest of the comic (since (dwarf)planets are tested). -- [[User:Linuspogo|Linuspogo]] ([[User talk:Linuspogo|talk]]) 09:55, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

;German? Number Nein
Unless this German company puts round inspection stickers onto products, '''in English''', then Randall is referring to [http://www.cafepress.com/inspector6 these stickers], which were used by [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=258182 US clothing manufacturers] in the mid-to-late 20th century. -- [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 12:52, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
: I would tend to agree on the stickers themselves, but the mention of salmonella and the fact that CERES is indeed a company which provides certification of agricultural processes and related inspection services across the EU, some sort of link seems patent, and I think a mention of the relationship should remain in some form. -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 13:26, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

: It's Debbie Slade: [http://articles.latimes.com/1990-11-18/business/fi-6997_1_quality-assurance-manager] [http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=110&dat=19910211&id=IA5QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5lUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6542,3176811] --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.134|108.162.254.134]] 14:49, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

I wonder where the high resolution detail came from. I imagine the frames of the animation could be used as sub-sampled images and hence combined to obtain higher resolution, but I should imagine that, had this been done, such images would also appear on the various science sites. So: did Randall one-up the mission handlers, did he fill in some other image or did I simply fail to find the source?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.123|108.162.229.123]] 13:53, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

: I had wondered that too. My guess was that he took an available higher res image of the moon or similar, then added the shadows and bright patches from the low res Ceres image. I can tell from the pixels and from seeing quite a few shops in my time. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 14:02, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

:: I see what you did there. (xkcd#331). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.125|108.162.217.125]] 05:47, 22 January 2015 (UTC)BK201

: I'm pretty sure Randall just took from that one image of six frying pan bottoms.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.101|108.162.221.101]] 17:08, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

I think people are trying too hard to assign meaning to "inspected by number 6" I really think 6 was just an arbitrary number and not a reference to The Prisoner or Battlestar or even Debbie Slade. The lines trying too hard to make "number 6" a reference to something should probably be removed. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.180}}
:I feel that this happens quite a lot here. Not every word and image has to be a reference to something. Even if two things do bear some similarity, it could always be a coincidence caused by a shared culture producing similar ideas. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.73|173.245.50.73]] 15:11, 22 January 2015 (UTC)
:: Especially when the thing in question is a low value integer. Those things pop up all over the place. -Pennpenn[[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.205|108.162.249.205]] 22:33, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

What about Futurama? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethal_Inspection ¬¬¬¬ {{unsigned ip|141.101.106.131}}
:That's what I thought of when I say it and it is a pop culture reference that Randall would surely know, I hope. However, saying that I agree with the Pennpenn and other replies about trying too hard to find a link between subject matter and outside sources. Every time I went into English, people were always trying to find these obscure references and ideas which I'm sure the author/s never intended. -Drcrazy102--[[User:Drcrazy102|Drcrazy102]] ([[User talk:Drcrazy102|talk]]) 00:00, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

1338: Land Mammals

2014-10-21T23:06:28Z

Drcrazy102: /* Explanation */ the parasites reference about human-parasites isn't really relevant to either the main or sub-text of the comic or else, someone needs to explain and expand the idea into its own idea not a sentence with little explanation

{{comic
| number = 1338
| date = March 5, 2014
| title = Land Mammals
| image = land_mammals.png
| titletext = Bacteria still outweigh us thousands to one--and that's not even counting the several pounds of them in your body.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Clean up and remove unnecessary explanations. Include the refrenced values from Vaclav Smil's ''The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change''}}

This comic may be a [[Nerd Sniping|nerd snipe]] from [[Randall]], challenging his readers to figure out the missing parts.

The comic shows the total weight of mankind and all other land mammals. Only a few centuries ago humans, and their pets and livestock, come to occupy such a great proportion of the earth's land mammal mass.

The design of the blocks resemble a cell. This could be a reference to how these animals support humans, much like a cell supports a central nucleus. The cell could also be a bacterium, and therefore this could be a reference to the title text. The title text states that bacteria outweigh us thousands to one a little more than a thousand blocks has been used to sketch this bacterium and bacteria outweighs the *mammals and/or humans* on this order.

Per the diagram, there are 358 million tons of humans, 864 million tons of pets and livestock, of which 520 million tons comes from cattle, and 34 million tons of wild animals; for a total of 1.3 billion tons.

Cattle, in aggregate, are much heavier than the human population.
Humans outweigh both sheep and put together pigs. This is supprising as these animals outweigh the population in the countries that produce the majority of meat from such animals.

It is interesting to note that the world's heaviest land dwelling animal - the elephant - only takes up one square! It is the only type of wild animal to be singled out in the comic. This may possibly be due to elephants being the largest land mammal

There are 8 distinct blocks of wild animal (elephants and 7 others). There are 13 distinct blocks of pets and live stock; only the top 5 are labeled - in order of weight they are: Cattle, Sheep, Pigs, Goats and Horses. Dogs would properly also take up a large part.

{{W|Water buffalo|Water buffaloes}} seem to be missing completely. According to Wikipedia, there are {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|172 million}} of them with a weight of 300–550 kg each. With an average between 300–400 kg (depending on the number of calves) there is 50-70 million tons of them - giving them a much larger weight than goats, which would put them in fifth place in the table below.

The comic references the book [http://vaclavsmil.com/the-earths-biosphere-evolution-dynamics-and-change/ The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change] by {{W|Vaclav Smil}} as the source for most of the data - although a few other sources has also been used. These other sources are not referenced.

Note that only land dwelling mammals are taken into account - thus no whales. It is not clear as to where, for instance, seals, sea lions and walruses belong - although they could belong to land mammals as they spend a lot of time on land - as opposed to whales but due to their survival depending on water-based activities they appear to have disregarded.

All other types of animals are not included. For instance, the weight of insects would outweigh us by far. Although not as much as the bacteria mentioned in the title text - they outweigh us thousands to one.

And that is without counting the part of our body weight that consist of bacteria: Several pounds. A fact that most people would properly like to ignore - which is a good reason to mention it here. These pounds are already counted as part of the total human weight.

==Table of the block sizes==
*The table below ranks each group of blocks from 1 to 22 according to the size of the group = the number of blocks. The number of blocks represents the weight of the group in millions of tons = billions of kg.
*The comic contains a total of 1256 blocks in three colors representing the 1.256 billion tons of land dwelling mammals.
**358 million tons from humans - dark grey color
**864 million tons from mammalian pets and livestock - light grey color
**34 million tons of wild land dwelling mammals - green color

:The population should only be stated (in millions) if it can found through references - the XKCD average weight (in kg) is then given from the number of blocks in the group.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: auto; text-align: center; font-size: 95%; table-layout: fixed; line-height:1.25"
|-
! Rank
! # Blocks
! Type
! Text
!Population (millions)
!Weight (kg)
!Notes/comments
|-
| {{sort|00001|1}}
| {{sort|00520|520}}
| Pets/Livestock
| Cattle
| {{sort|01000|1000}}
| {{sort|00520|520}}
| They only outweigh us by weight (not by numbers), and there has been a stable [http://www.statista.com/statistics/263979/global-cattle-population-since-1990/ population] of about {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|1 billion cattle}} since 2007.
|-
| {{sort|00002|2}}
| {{sort|00358|358}}
| Humans
|
| {{sort|07152|7152}}
| {{sort|00050.1|50.1}}
| According to the U.S. Census Bureau's [http://www.census.gov/popclock/ population counter], there were 7.1516 billion people in the world as of March 4, 2014. Therefore and the comic assumes an ''average human'' weighs 50.1 kg. This seems credible.
|-
| {{sort|00003|3}}
| {{sort|00135|135}}
| Pets/Livestock
| Sheep
| {{sort|01000|1000}}
| {{sort|00135|135}}
|There are about {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|1 billion sheep}} according to Wikipedia. The {{W|Domestic sheep#Description and evolution|average sheep}} weight of 135 kg seems highly exaggerated as only the rams can weigh more than that.
|-
| {{sort|00004|4}}
| {{sort|00090|90}}
| Pets/Livestock
| Pigs
| {{sort|01500|1000/2100?}}
| {{sort|00065|43/90?}}
| According to Wikipedia, the {{W|Pig#Distribution_and_evolution|population of pigs}} is about {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|1 billion}}. According to the [http://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/psdReport.aspx?hidReportRetrievalName=Swine+Summary+Selected+Countries&hidReportRetrievalID=1649&hidReportRetrievalTemplateID=7 2nd reference] given for this in the wiki article, there are, however, 1.3 billion, and then 0.8 billion more (probably piglets) for a total of 2.1 billion? The piglets will not weigh much, though.
|-
| {{sort|00005|5}}
| {{sort|00039|39}}
| Pets/Livestock
| Goats
| {{sort|00864|864}}
| {{sort|00045|45}}
| The goat population can be estimated as 864 million from {{W|Goat#Worldwide_goat_population_statistics|Wikipedia's goat article}}. According to this list, there are {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|850 million goats}}.
|-
| {{sort|00006|6}}
| {{sort|00029|29}}
| Pets/Livestock
| Horses
| {{sort|00058|58}}
| {{sort|00500|500}}
| According to Wikipedia there is a population of {{W|List of odd-toed ungulates by population|58 million}} horses. Horses can {{W|Horse#Size_and_measurement|weigh from 400-1000 kg}}. There are probably not that many foals compared to adults, relative to (for instance) cattle and pigs.
|-
| {{sort|00007|7}}
| {{sort|00013|13}}
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| {{sort|00008|8}}
| {{sort|00010|10}}
| Wild animals
|
|
|
| The largest grouping of wild animals, less than 1/50 of the weight of cattle - although representing almost a third of all the wild land mammals.
|-
| {{sort|00009|9}}
| {{sort|00008|8}}
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| {{sort|00010|T10}}
| {{sort|00007|7}}
| Pets/Livestock
| Camel?
| {{sort|00017|17}}
| {{sort|00412|412}}
|Wikipedia lists the number of camels as 17 million. An average weight, based on Wikipedia's numbers for male and female, is about 500 kg. So, including the non-adult camels, an average around 400 kg seems to be a realistic estimate.
|-
| {{sort|00010|T10}}
| {{sort|00007|7}}
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| {{sort|00010|T10}}
| {{sort|00007|7}}
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| {{sort|00013|13}}
| {{sort|00006|6}}
| Pets/Livestock
| Dogs?
| {{sort|00400|400}}
| {{sort|00015|15}}
|According to Wikipedia, there are 400 million dogs worldwide. Assuming their average weight is 15 kg there should be 6 blocks.
|-
| {{sort|00014|T14}}
| {{sort|00005|5}}
| Pets/Livestock
| Donkeys?
| {{sort|00041|41}}
| {{sort|00122|122}}
| There are roughly 41 million {{w|Donkey#Present status|donkeys}} on Earth, with an average weight of about 125 kg.
|-
| {{sort|00014|T14}}
| {{sort|00005|5}}
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| {{sort|00016|16}}
| {{sort|00004|4}}
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| {{sort|00017|T17}}
| {{sort|00003|3}}
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| {{sort|00017|T17}}
| {{sort|00003|3}}
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| {{sort|00019|T19}}
| {{sort|00002|2}}
| Pets/Livestock
| Cats?
| {{sort|00500|500}}
| {{sort|00004|4}}
| According to Wikipedia, there are 500 million domestic cats worldwide, with an average weight of 4.5 kg. So, counting kittens, 4kg is realistic.
|-
| {{sort|00019|T19}}
| {{sort|00002|2}}
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| {{sort|00019|T19}}
| {{sort|00002|2}}
| Wild animals
| Rats
| {{sort|04000|4000}}
| {{sort|000005|0.5}}
|A rat in the wild {{W|Rat#Species and description|seldom weighs over 500 g}}. The {{W|World Health Organization}} estimates 4 billion rats (citation needed) and a comparable number of mice. The {{W|House mouse#Characteristics|house mouse}} weighs only about 20 g on average and mice would thus only fill 8 hundredths of a block.
|-
| {{sort|00022|22}}
| {{sort|00001|1}}
| Wild animals
| Elephants
| {{sort|00000.75|0.75}}
| {{sort|01300|1300}}
| The only wild animal to be singled out with text and the heaviest land dwelling animal, elephants only take up one block. According to Wikipedia, the wild population of the {{W|African elephant}} is around 700,000 (down from 1.3 million in the 90s). The population of the {{W|Asian elephant}} is as low as 40 to 50 thousand, for a total of approximately 750,000 individuals. Any animals in the zoo or domesticated Asian elephants should not be counted. As adult African female elephants (who are probably the most abundant) weigh 2-3 tons, the figure of 1.3 tons seems a little low, especially since there is not a lot of calves as elephants have long lifespans. However, even with an average weight of 2 ton, the total weight would only be 1.5 million tons, and could be rounded down to 1 block. Remember, Randall makes ballpark guesses through mathematical estimations.
|-
|}

==Transcript==
:'''Earth's LAND MAMMALS by weight'''

:[A block indicating the value of each block:] = 1,000,000 tons

:[Dark gray block:] Humans
:[Light gray block:] Our pets and livestock
:[Green block:] Wild animals

:[The rest of the comic consist of blocks representing the weight of mammals. Some of the blocks are labeled:]
:*Cattle
:*Pigs
:*Goats
:*Sheep
:*Elephants
:*Horses

:Data from Vaclav Smil's ''The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change'', plus a few other sources.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Charts]]

1338: Land Mammals

2014-10-21T22:58:22Z

Drcrazy102: Spelling Nazi, some Grammar Nazi and adding some public explanation of Randall's methods

{{comic
| number = 1338
| date = March 5, 2014
| title = Land Mammals
| image = land_mammals.png
| titletext = Bacteria still outweigh us thousands to one--and that's not even counting the several pounds of them in your body.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Clean up and remove unnecessary explanations. Include the refrenced values from Vaclav Smil's ''The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change''}}

This comic may be a [[Nerd Sniping|nerd snipe]] from [[Randall]], challenging his readers to figure out the missing parts.

The comic shows the total weight of mankind and all other land mammals. Only a few centuries ago humans, and their pets and livestock, come to occupy such a great proportion of the earth's land mammal mass.

The design of the blocks resemble a cell. This could be a reference to how these animals support humans. The cell could also be a bacturium, and therefore this could be a reference to how humans can be viewed as parasites on other animals, or a reference to the title text. The title text states that bacteria outweigh us thousands to one a little more than a thousand blocks has been used to sketch this bacterium and bacteria outweighs the *mammals and/or humans* on this order.

Per the diagram, there are 358 million tons of humans, 864 million tons of pets and livestock, of which 520 million tons comes from cattle, and 34 million tons of wild animals; for a total of 1.3 billion tons.

Cattle, in aggregate, are much heavier than the human population.
Humans outweigh both sheep and put together pigs. This is supprising as these animals outweigh the population in the countries that produce the majority of meat from such animals.

It is interesting to note that the world's heaviest land dwelling animal - the elephant - only takes up one square! It is the only type of wild animal to be singled out in the comic. This may possibly be due to elephants being the largest land mammal

There are 8 distinct blocks of wild animal (elephants and 7 others). There are 13 distinct blocks of pets and live stock; only the top 5 are labeled - in order of weight they are: Cattle, Sheep, Pigs, Goats and Horses. Dogs would properly also take up a large part.

{{W|Water buffalo|Water buffaloes}} seem to be missing completely. According to Wikipedia, there are {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|172 million}} of them with a weight of 300–550 kg each. With an average between 300–400 kg (depending on the number of calves) there is 50-70 million tons of them - giving them a much larger weight than goats, which would put them in fifth place in the table below.

The comic references the book [http://vaclavsmil.com/the-earths-biosphere-evolution-dynamics-and-change/ The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change] by {{W|Vaclav Smil}} as the source for most of the data - although a few other sources has also been used. These other sources are not referenced.

Note that only land dwelling mammals are taken into account - thus no whales. It is not clear as to where, for instance, seals, sea lions and walruses belong - although they could belong to land mammals as they spend a lot of time on land - as opposed to whales but due to their survival depending on water-based activities they appear to have disregarded.

All other types of animals are not included. For instance, the weight of insects would outweigh us by far. Although not as much as the bacteria mentioned in the title text - they outweigh us thousands to one.

And that is without counting the part of our body weight that consist of bacteria: Several pounds. A fact that most people would properly like to ignore - which is a good reason to mention it here. These pounds are already counted as part of the total human weight.

==Table of the block sizes==
*The table below ranks each group of blocks from 1 to 22 according to the size of the group = the number of blocks. The number of blocks represents the weight of the group in millions of tons = billions of kg.
*The comic contains a total of 1256 blocks in three colors representing the 1.256 billion tons of land dwelling mammals.
**358 million tons from humans - dark grey color
**864 million tons from mammalian pets and livestock - light grey color
**34 million tons of wild land dwelling mammals - green color

:The population should only be stated (in millions) if it can found through references - the XKCD average weight (in kg) is then given from the number of blocks in the group.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: auto; text-align: center; font-size: 95%; table-layout: fixed; line-height:1.25"
|-
! Rank
! # Blocks
! Type
! Text
!Population (millions)
!Weight (kg)
!Notes/comments
|-
| {{sort|00001|1}}
| {{sort|00520|520}}
| Pets/Livestock
| Cattle
| {{sort|01000|1000}}
| {{sort|00520|520}}
| They only outweigh us by weight (not by numbers), and there has been a stable [http://www.statista.com/statistics/263979/global-cattle-population-since-1990/ population] of about {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|1 billion cattle}} since 2007.
|-
| {{sort|00002|2}}
| {{sort|00358|358}}
| Humans
|
| {{sort|07152|7152}}
| {{sort|00050.1|50.1}}
| According to the U.S. Census Bureau's [http://www.census.gov/popclock/ population counter], there were 7.1516 billion people in the world as of March 4, 2014. Therefore and the comic assumes an ''average human'' weighs 50.1 kg. This seems credible.
|-
| {{sort|00003|3}}
| {{sort|00135|135}}
| Pets/Livestock
| Sheep
| {{sort|01000|1000}}
| {{sort|00135|135}}
|There are about {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|1 billion sheep}} according to Wikipedia. The {{W|Domestic sheep#Description and evolution|average sheep}} weight of 135 kg seems highly exaggerated as only the rams can weigh more than that.
|-
| {{sort|00004|4}}
| {{sort|00090|90}}
| Pets/Livestock
| Pigs
| {{sort|01500|1000/2100?}}
| {{sort|00065|43/90?}}
| According to Wikipedia, the {{W|Pig#Distribution_and_evolution|population of pigs}} is about {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|1 billion}}. According to the [http://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/psdReport.aspx?hidReportRetrievalName=Swine+Summary+Selected+Countries&hidReportRetrievalID=1649&hidReportRetrievalTemplateID=7 2nd reference] given for this in the wiki article, there are, however, 1.3 billion, and then 0.8 billion more (probably piglets) for a total of 2.1 billion? The piglets will not weigh much, though.
|-
| {{sort|00005|5}}
| {{sort|00039|39}}
| Pets/Livestock
| Goats
| {{sort|00864|864}}
| {{sort|00045|45}}
| The goat population can be estimated as 864 million from {{W|Goat#Worldwide_goat_population_statistics|Wikipedia's goat article}}. According to this list, there are {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|850 million goats}}.
|-
| {{sort|00006|6}}
| {{sort|00029|29}}
| Pets/Livestock
| Horses
| {{sort|00058|58}}
| {{sort|00500|500}}
| According to Wikipedia there is a population of {{W|List of odd-toed ungulates by population|58 million}} horses. Horses can {{W|Horse#Size_and_measurement|weigh from 400-1000 kg}}. There are probably not that many foals compared to adults, relative to (for instance) cattle and pigs.
|-
| {{sort|00007|7}}
| {{sort|00013|13}}
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| {{sort|00008|8}}
| {{sort|00010|10}}
| Wild animals
|
|
|
| The largest grouping of wild animals, less than 1/50 of the weight of cattle - although representing almost a third of all the wild land mammals.
|-
| {{sort|00009|9}}
| {{sort|00008|8}}
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| {{sort|00010|T10}}
| {{sort|00007|7}}
| Pets/Livestock
| Camel?
| {{sort|00017|17}}
| {{sort|00412|412}}
|Wikipedia lists the number of camels as 17 million. An average weight, based on Wikipedia's numbers for male and female, is about 500 kg. So, including the non-adult camels, an average around 400 kg seems to be a realistic estimate.
|-
| {{sort|00010|T10}}
| {{sort|00007|7}}
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| {{sort|00010|T10}}
| {{sort|00007|7}}
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| {{sort|00013|13}}
| {{sort|00006|6}}
| Pets/Livestock
| Dogs?
| {{sort|00400|400}}
| {{sort|00015|15}}
|According to Wikipedia, there are 400 million dogs worldwide. Assuming their average weight is 15 kg there should be 6 blocks.
|-
| {{sort|00014|T14}}
| {{sort|00005|5}}
| Pets/Livestock
| Donkeys?
| {{sort|00041|41}}
| {{sort|00122|122}}
| There are roughly 41 million {{w|Donkey#Present status|donkeys}} on Earth, with an average weight of about 125 kg.
|-
| {{sort|00014|T14}}
| {{sort|00005|5}}
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| {{sort|00016|16}}
| {{sort|00004|4}}
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| {{sort|00017|T17}}
| {{sort|00003|3}}
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| {{sort|00017|T17}}
| {{sort|00003|3}}
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| {{sort|00019|T19}}
| {{sort|00002|2}}
| Pets/Livestock
| Cats?
| {{sort|00500|500}}
| {{sort|00004|4}}
| According to Wikipedia, there are 500 million domestic cats worldwide, with an average weight of 4.5 kg. So, counting kittens, 4kg is realistic.
|-
| {{sort|00019|T19}}
| {{sort|00002|2}}
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| {{sort|00019|T19}}
| {{sort|00002|2}}
| Wild animals
| Rats
| {{sort|04000|4000}}
| {{sort|000005|0.5}}
|A rat in the wild {{W|Rat#Species and description|seldom weighs over 500 g}}. The {{W|World Health Organization}} estimates 4 billion rats (citation needed) and a comparable number of mice. The {{W|House mouse#Characteristics|house mouse}} weighs only about 20 g on average and mice would thus only fill 8 hundredths of a block.
|-
| {{sort|00022|22}}
| {{sort|00001|1}}
| Wild animals
| Elephants
| {{sort|00000.75|0.75}}
| {{sort|01300|1300}}
| The only wild animal to be singled out with text and the heaviest land dwelling animal, elephants only take up one block. According to Wikipedia, the wild population of the {{W|African elephant}} is around 700,000 (down from 1.3 million in the 90s). The population of the {{W|Asian elephant}} is as low as 40 to 50 thousand, for a total of approximately 750,000 individuals. Any animals in the zoo or domesticated Asian elephants should not be counted. As adult African female elephants (who are probably the most abundant) weigh 2-3 tons, the figure of 1.3 tons seems a little low, especially since there is not a lot of calves as elephants have long lifespans. However, even with an average weight of 2 ton, the total weight would only be 1.5 million tons, and could be rounded down to 1 block. Remember, Randall makes ballpark guesses through mathematical estimations.
|-
|}

==Transcript==
:'''Earth's LAND MAMMALS by weight'''

:[A block indicating the value of each block:] = 1,000,000 tons

:[Dark gray block:] Humans
:[Light gray block:] Our pets and livestock
:[Green block:] Wild animals

:[The rest of the comic consist of blocks representing the weight of mammals. Some of the blocks are labeled:]
:*Cattle
:*Pigs
:*Goats
:*Sheep
:*Elephants
:*Horses

:Data from Vaclav Smil's ''The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change'', plus a few other sources.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Charts]]