The popular conception of evolution is that it makes things better, in some absolute sense. According to the evolutionary diagram here, the turtle-thing is similar to the first picture, and the bird is virtually identical to the last picture. Ergo, the bird is a much improved version of the turtle.
This is attempting to show that birds are more evolved than
turtles, that birds in fact evolved from them.
While birds did evolve from earlier dinosaurs, you have to go
way back to get a common ancestor of dinosaurs and turtles.
This is one of those cases where knowing too much interferes
with the intended humor.
(And WW types faster than I do.)
I’m sure I’ll be corrected if I’m wrong in any way, but it’s my basic understanding that dinosaurs never truly went extinct…some of the ones who survived just evolved into modern birds. However, turtles have been around in pretty much the same form for hundreds of millions of years.
The bird is having a dig at the turtle…that he’s evolved but the turtle isn’t/hasn’t. My guess is that the joke is in a double meaning of ‘evolved’ – progressive, refined or advanced vs. to develop or adapt one’s state or condition.
Stan, that’s why I carefully phased my previous comment as,
“birds did evolve from earlier dinosaurs” rather than, “birds
did evolve from dinosaurs”.
The turtle’s counter is/should be “when you get it right the first time, you don’t have to keep trying”.
The historical understanding has dinosaurs as big reptiles. The current understanding has dinosaurs more like birds. Either way, they lost to the mammals. Or, possibly, to the arthropods, depending on how you want to calculate the winner(s)…
Arthur, you posted your comment as I was constructing mine. There were no comments here while I was typing it. Sorry if I offended.
A few months ago, I was sitting at a picnic table, and on the table was what I though was a plastic kid’s model of a dinosaur skeleton. Then I realized it was actually a real bird skeleton. They look the same.
Dinosaurs are an order, and a pretty massive one, and there was a tremendous diversity in size, habitat and diet. Even before the dinosaur bird connection was discovered it was known that some families of dinosaurs had more bird-like bone structures than others.
The real flaw in the comic though is the perception that one species turns into another one. Even if the turtle was the ancestor of the bird the turtles would evolve also as the birds evolved. Turtles at the end of the Cretaceous don’t look the same as turtles today. Google Cretaceous turtles for a long list of turtle species from back then.
But I suppose BC even acknowledging evolution is a plus.
While birds did evolve from earlier dinosaurs, you have to go
way back to get a common ancestor of dinosaurs and turtles.
In fact, the last time I looked, people weren’t actually sure exactly quite how turtles and archesaurs are related – though they are definitely more closely related to each other than they are to other reptiles.
@ Kamino Neko – Did you trigger that blockquote format on purpose, or did WordPress do that by itself?
“If the latter, then Bill needs to reduce the point size in the settings for blockquotes.”
As long as we’re critiquing the science content, the idea that evolution produces things that are “better,” in some absolute sense, is also problematic. Evolution produes things that are more fit to the specific changing local conditions around the species – but this isn’t necessarily more fit in an absolute sense, as local conditions change and change back in all kinds of different ways. e.g. a species might get a complex eye when good eyesight is useful, but then lose eyesight altogether, in conditions where that complex eye is just a waste or resources. It’s not that having an eye is good or bad in any absolute sense.
But as Scott pointed out, it’s a BC comic that acknowledges evolution. Perhaps should just give them credit for that and not critique too heavily. :)
Birds evolved from bipedal turtles. But eventually devolved into a creature that requires a turtle for locomotion.
They tell us that we lost our tails, evolving up from little snails…
Comics I Don't Understand 
The popular conception of evolution is that it makes things better, in some absolute sense. According to the evolutionary diagram here, the turtle-thing is similar to the first picture, and the bird is virtually identical to the last picture. Ergo, the bird is a much improved version of the turtle.
This is attempting to show that birds are more evolved than
turtles, that birds in fact evolved from them.
While birds did evolve from earlier dinosaurs, you have to go
way back to get a common ancestor of dinosaurs and turtles.
This is one of those cases where knowing too much interferes
with the intended humor.
(And WW types faster than I do.)
I’m sure I’ll be corrected if I’m wrong in any way, but it’s my basic understanding that dinosaurs never truly went extinct…some of the ones who survived just evolved into modern birds. However, turtles have been around in pretty much the same form for hundreds of millions of years.
The bird is having a dig at the turtle…that he’s evolved but the turtle isn’t/hasn’t. My guess is that the joke is in a double meaning of ‘evolved’ – progressive, refined or advanced vs. to develop or adapt one’s state or condition.
Stan, that’s why I carefully phased my previous comment as,
“birds did evolve from earlier dinosaurs” rather than, “birds
did evolve from dinosaurs”.
The turtle’s counter is/should be “when you get it right the first time, you don’t have to keep trying”.
The historical understanding has dinosaurs as big reptiles. The current understanding has dinosaurs more like birds. Either way, they lost to the mammals. Or, possibly, to the arthropods, depending on how you want to calculate the winner(s)…
Arthur, you posted your comment as I was constructing mine. There were no comments here while I was typing it. Sorry if I offended.
A few months ago, I was sitting at a picnic table, and on the table was what I though was a plastic kid’s model of a dinosaur skeleton. Then I realized it was actually a real bird skeleton. They look the same.
Dinosaurs are an order, and a pretty massive one, and there was a tremendous diversity in size, habitat and diet. Even before the dinosaur bird connection was discovered it was known that some families of dinosaurs had more bird-like bone structures than others.
The real flaw in the comic though is the perception that one species turns into another one. Even if the turtle was the ancestor of the bird the turtles would evolve also as the birds evolved. Turtles at the end of the Cretaceous don’t look the same as turtles today. Google Cretaceous turtles for a long list of turtle species from back then.
But I suppose BC even acknowledging evolution is a plus.
In fact, the last time I looked, people weren’t actually sure exactly quite how turtles and archesaurs are related – though they are definitely more closely related to each other than they are to other reptiles.
@ Kamino Neko – Did you trigger that blockquote format on purpose, or did WordPress do that by itself?
“If the latter, then Bill needs to reduce the point size in the settings for blockquotes.”
As long as we’re critiquing the science content, the idea that evolution produces things that are “better,” in some absolute sense, is also problematic. Evolution produes things that are more fit to the specific changing local conditions around the species – but this isn’t necessarily more fit in an absolute sense, as local conditions change and change back in all kinds of different ways. e.g. a species might get a complex eye when good eyesight is useful, but then lose eyesight altogether, in conditions where that complex eye is just a waste or resources. It’s not that having an eye is good or bad in any absolute sense.
But as Scott pointed out, it’s a BC comic that acknowledges evolution. Perhaps should just give them credit for that and not critique too heavily. :)
Birds evolved from bipedal turtles. But eventually devolved into a creature that requires a turtle for locomotion.
They tell us that we lost our tails, evolving up from little snails…
Wait, this isn’t the song lyrics thread.
Kilby – that’s the default size for it.
WW: remember this one ? http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1988/10/27