Terror Bird
There has long been debate about Big Bird's species, with some experts claiming he was a canary, but recent genetic analysis places him firmly in Cariamiformes.
There has long been debate about Big Bird's species, with some experts claiming he was a canary, but recent genetic analysis places him firmly in Cariamiformes.
Members of the large prehistoric family of birds Phorusrhacidae are often known colloquially as "terror birds", which could also be described as "big birds", similar to the "Big Bird" character from Sesame Street. Hairy implies to Jill that the character Big Bird is really meant to be based on the extinct terror birds and therefore should be made to be scarier if the writers of Sesame Street were to be realistic.
The title text claims that there is ongoing scientific debate about Big Bird's species. Initially, likely due to his color, he was thought to be a canary. He has more recently been placed in the order Cariamiformes, which the terror birds belong to. This text is likely intended to mirror what somebody might say about the seriemas, modern-day birds also in the Cariamiformes, as if Big Bird were the descendant of these birds. Actual scientific analysis seems to suggest that Big Bird is in fact related to the whooping crane.
The comic implies that the Big Bird species is extinct. This could be a reference to current events (there was a Congressional hearing March 26, 2025 in which one of the topics was whether funding for PBS would be reduced or eliminated). It is worth mentioning, though, that Sesame Street is not directly owned by PBS, but rather by Sesame Workshop which is itself a 501(c)(3) organization.