3069: Terror Bird

Terror Bird

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Title text: 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.

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Explanation

This explanation is incomplete: The explanation is not a transcript. Need to actually explain the comic, not describe the scene. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

This comic is a scene of two people, Jill and Hairy, at a museum looking at a fossil skeleton of a large prehistoric terror bird, which is a "big bird". Hairy thinks out loud about Big Bird (as becomes clear in the title text), a Muppet character from Sesame Street. He suggests that he must be a terror bird, and wonders whether he will be updated to be more scientifically accurate, and therefore more scary. However Big Bird, being from a show for little kids, was never intended to be a terror bird and would almost certainly never be made to look scary.

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 is 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.

Transcript

[Jill and Hairy are standing together, looking up at the skeleton of a very large bird. The skeleton, that towers more than two times the height of Hairy, is being displayed on a low podium. There is an information stand in front of the podium, for the benefit of visitors.]

Hairy: Wow.

Hairy: Now that we know how scary they were, do you think Sesame Street will update him?

Notes

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Discussion

Oh, wow, never seen a blank explanation before! RadiantRainwing (talk) 02:48, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

Jill is a pretty rare character (only 59 appearances). Cool to see a rare character. -- DollarStoreBa'al (talk) 03:46, 29 March 2025 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Jill is at 40 at the moment (41 as long as this comic is on the front page, but then back to the real 40). Not sure how you got the 59? Originally she was called Science Girl, and I'm not at all in favor of the name change... Not sure who thought that was a good idea? She is a generic girl interested in science. And in one comic she's a young adult and in one she is looking different. --Kynde (talk) 15:41, 30 March 2025 (UTC)

Why back to 40? What is "real" about it? 172.70.42.128 13:48, 31 March 2025 (UTC)

I would say that's the official count. Go to the Pages in category "Comics featuring Jill" list and it (currently) says "The following 41 pages are in this category, out of 41 total." (Which includes the Main Page, right now, that transcludes the latest comic, which happens to be 3069 at the moment, but will change later.)

I have no idea where "59 appearances" comes from, perhaps the OP has a different count in mind. The 40(+1) could be wrong if the "Comics featuring Jill" is missing (or incorrectly added) for some comics, but that's a different issue. 172.69.195.121 14:51, 31 March 2025 (UTC)

this seems to be a play on dinosaurs in media to look more accurate by having feathers, which some view as making them less scary. this comic is a reversal, where the bird is supposedly more accurate and scarier. 108.162.242.28 04:17, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

hmm maybe RadiantRainwing (talk) 16:09, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

No it is about a specific bird type from long after the dinosaurs died out, and it is mentioned both in the comic title and in the title text. Nothing to do with dinosaurs. Have also removed that category as though birds evolved from dinosaurs they are no longer that! --Kynde (talk) 15:49, 30 March 2025 (UTC)

Considering there are childs show with Barney the purple dinosaur, and that's supposed to be tyrannosaurus-rex, apex predator, and is STILL not scary, making Big Bird scary is not related to what species it might be at all. -- Hkmaly (talk) 16:58, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

I suspect Randall just received the latest edition of Scientific American. It summarizes recent discovery of a thick keratin sheath over the already known bony weapons in some dino species, making the nasty parts even nastier: bigger, heavier, and more resistant to damage. 172.71.191.130 22:59, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

But this is not a dinosaur! --Kynde (talk) 15:49, 30 March 2025 (UTC)

All birds are dinosaurs, cladistically. --172.69.79.165 05:02, 31 March 2025 (UTC)

Bird Height It looks like the bird is around 12 feet / 3.5 m tall (in comparison with the humans), but the Wikipedia article indicated that terror birds reached at max 10 feet / 3 meters. Is anyone eyeballing the situation differently? Is that noteworthy? 172.71.182.229 01:02, 30 March 2025 (UTC)

Jill's a child. 'Hairy' could be a non-adult Hairy (just older/taller than Jill). Have you tried instead assuming that the comic Bird is 10' high and working out if Jill/Hairy are reasonable (maybe both adolescent) sizes in comparison? 162.158.33.253 01:36, 30 March 2025 (UTC)

I get the bird to be 8/3 the height of Hairy. Thus Hairy should be 1,12 m for it to be only 3 m tall. That is like a 5 year old... And Jill is considerably shorter and girls at that age it not shorter than boys, and since they are in a museum with scary animals I would assume 3-5 year old kids would not run around alone. I would agree that Hairy could represent a kid, but he is tall enough compared to Jill that he could be the adult Hairy. That would make the skeleton more than 4 m tall. There could be some issue with perspective. Maybe they are further away that the skeleton. Most likely Randall did not put too many thoughts into this and just wanted the skeleton to tower over the humans. --Kynde (talk) 15:49, 30 March 2025 (UTC)

Me again. Thanks! " just wanted the skeleton to tower over the humans" just seems ... [(*)], I guess. If that were true, he may as well have shown a disproportionately large cat or cockroach or amoeba. They would be just as scary. The difference is that readers would be less likely to take it seriously with a familiar. Ah, well. Thanks! (* I removed something critical / judgemental I'd feel guilty about posting about a comic I love.) 172.70.46.27 23:55, 30 March 2025 (UTC)
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