Volcano Dinosaur
Phylogeneticists are working on identifying and notifying its next of kin.
Phylogeneticists are working on identifying and notifying its next of kin.
This comic is a reference to this discovery of fossils of dinosaurs that were buried and killed by a volcanic eruption.
Megan asks if the dinosaur was okay. As living things typically don't survive being fossilized in volcano debris,[citation needed] the answer to the question would obviously be "no", but Cueball replies that he is unsure. Even if the dinosaur somehow survived the initial burial, it would be very difficult for it to survive being buried for 125 million years. 2020 probably wouldn't be the best year to dig it up and potentially let it free.
It is not an uncommon shortcut to refer to finds of relatively intact fossilized pieces of an animal using wording that sounds like they found an entire animal intact, as in the headline "New dinosaur discovered" rather than a wordier but more accurate "the fossil of a new dinosaur" or "the fossilized bones of a new dinosaur". Most parts of an animal dead for millions of years don't survive that length of time, and those that do are usually transformed into something else, such as bones becoming fossilized into rock and minerals.
Megan's response is natural and expected in many situations when hearing of a person or creature experiencing misfortune. The humor here comes from the inaptness of asking the question millions of years after the event. Rather than responding to the ridiculousness of Megan's question, Cueball takes it seriously, and deadpans that he can't tell.
The title text suggests contacting its "next of kin", which usually means a nearest living relative, e.g. a brother or a sister, and if not, the parents. The process of identifying and contacting next of kin is a standard step performed by authorities in the event of a death being discovered. The reason for this step is to allow the next of kin to exercise their rights to the property of the deceased under inheritance law. In this case, non-avian dinosaurs are extinct,[citation needed] so it is the job of phylogeneticists (those who study evolutionary relationships) to determine which living animal (presumably a bird of some kind) is the "nearest relative" to the deceased dinosaurs. However, even if the correct species could be identified, the specific animal would be all but impossible to find. Statistically speaking, that dinosaur is almost certainly either a direct ancestor of all living birds, or else an ancestor of no living birds.