Editing 2608: Family Reunion

{{comic
| number    = 2608
| date      = April 18, 2022
| title     = Family Reunion
| image     = family_reunion.png
| titletext = Grandma says that because of differences in primate and feline lifespans, the cat is actually my 17,000,000th cousin 14,000,000 times removed.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by THE GIRL YOU DIDN'T KNOW WAS YOUR RELATIVE (WHOOPS) - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Because all humans are descended from a {{w|Mitochondrial Eve|common ancestor}}, every human is, at some point, related to every other human, albeit distantly. Similarly, all life forms on Earth are presumed (with good reasons) to be descended from a single {{w|Most recent common ancestor|even more distant relative}} whose ultimate lineage {{w|Last universal common ancestor|became more relevant}} than any from its own 'cousins' at the time, and thus ''all'' life forms are distantly related. This makes every interaction with another life-form, technically, a family reunion, if not in the traditional sense.

The general English definition of a {{w|cousin}}, which is a person sharing an ancestor who is not a direct parent of either party, can be qualified by two numbers. There is the ''n''th-ness of the relationship (the fewest generations you need to go beyond one's parentage, "a first cousin" implies that a grandparent is the key link) - for example, [[Cueball|this Cueball's]] relation to [[White Hat]] is via a great-grandparent, whilst that with [[Hairbun]] is through a great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparent. A "removed" number is any difference in this number between the two individuals, such that a child of a direct cousin invokes a "once removed" relationship. You would normally only qualify "first cousin" if this fact is considered important, and "zero times removed" would also be considered implicit.

As pointed out in the title text, cat lifespans (or, more importantly, inter-generational breeding cycles) are somewhat different from those of humans. Although they would have still been very similar immediately after the divergence from the appropriate MRCA, the differences will have built up to a generational-count displacement of a similarly extreme nature. i.e. that while the shared ancestor is Cueball's 17-million-or-so-Great Grandparent, the cat is in turn the 31-million-or-so-Great Grandchild. Exactly how accurate, or even precise, Randall considers these numbers is unknown, but it is the kind of fact that we know he likes to research and use expert opinion for.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Megan, White Hat, Cueball, Hairy, a 2nd Megan (Danish?), a cat, Hairbun, a chair, and a potted plant on a cabinet are "standing" in a line. White Hat is holding a cup and Hairy has his hands to the side. There are arrows pointing to each of the living creatures.]

:14th cousin [Megan]
:2nd cousin [White Hat]
:Me [Cueball]
:12th cousin [Hairy]
:35th cousin [Megan #2]
:17,000,000th cousin [cat]
:9th cousin [Hairbun]
:50,000,000,000th cousin [potted plant]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Really, ''every'' gathering is a family reunion.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
<!-- [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]] Danish?--> 
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Cats]]
[[Category:Biology]]