Editing 2990: Late Cenozoic

{{comic
| number    = 2990
| date      = September 25, 2024
| title     = Late Cenozoic
| image     = late_cenozoic_2x.png
| imagesize = 303x396px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = Our nucleic acid recovery techinques found a great deal of homo sapiens DNA incorporated into the fossils, particularly the ones containing high levels of resin, leading to the theory that these dinosaurs preyed on the once-dominant primates.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ONCE-DOMINANT BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Many science museums contain fossils,{{Citation needed}} which are often reconstructed into full skeletons.

In the comic, futuristic life-forms in the future (in [[Randall]]’s [[2572: Alien Observers|classic alien style]], rather than his [[1747: Spider Paleontology|being from the future]] one) have discovered the reconstructed fossils from our museums and misidentified them as coming from actual dinosaurs living now, and have thus concluded that these dinosaurs survived the {{w|Chicxulub crater|asteroid impact}} that in fact {{w|Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event|made them extinct}}. The {{w|Cenozoic}}, which began after that impact around 66 million years ago, is Earth's current {{w|Geologic time scale#Divisions of geologic time|geologic era}}, while the {{w|Cretaceous}} was the final geologic period of the previous era, the {{w|Mesozoic}}.

The title text says that a high amount of resin and human DNA has led to them theorizing that dinosaurs ate humans. Much more likely, the resin and human DNA have mixed as a result of the molding and casting process used to recreate missing or damaged bones — usually so that complete-looking skeletons can be displayed.

A similar museum, misunderstood by people instead of alien beings, is depicted in [[2760: Paleontology Museum]].

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

:[Three squid-like aliens in a classroom; one alien stands in front of a board covered with minute text and a drawing of a T-Rex skeleton. Two aliens sit on stools watching the teacher alien. The teacher alien on the left is on a raised platform and points at the board with one tentacle.]
:Left alien: Species such as triceratops and tyrannosaurus became more rare after the Cretaceous, but they survived to flourish in the late Cenozoic, 66 million years later.
:Left alien: Many complete skeletons have been discovered from this era.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:It's going to be really funny when our museums get buried in sediment.

==Trivia==
The title text has a typo: "techinques" should be "techniques".

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Aliens]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Geology]]