3204: Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs

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Title text: Staplers are actually in Pseudosuchia, making them more closely related to crocodiles than to dinosaurs.

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Explanation

This is one of 62 incomplete explanations: This page was created by a webserver that is often described as being a dinosaur, however it is definitely not. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

This comic explores the seeming paradox that certain extinct prehistoric species which are popularly thought of as being "dinosaurs" are, from a strict taxonomic viewpoint, not. It also takes into account the fact that all bird species are descended from dinosaurs and thus - again, from a strict taxonomic viewpoint - are themselves dinosaurs as well (see 1211: Birds and Dinosaurs). To illustrate this, Randall provides silhouettes of dinosaurs, of entities that are widely thought of as dinosaurs but are not, of entities that are not widely thought of as dinosaurs but are (i.e., birds), and, lastly, of entities that are neither dinosaurs nor thought of as dinosaurs (which is funny because it's so all-encompassing as to be practically meaningless, just like it would be if you replaced the word "dinosaurs" by any other plural noun, or adjective).

In reading order from upper left in each quadrant of the image:

• Silhouettes in "seem like dinosaurs / are dinosaurs": Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus, Diplodocus and Velociraptor
• Silhouettes in "seem like dinosaurs / are not dinosaurs": Mosasaur, Quetzalcoatlus, Dimetrodon, Plesiosaur and Pteranodon
• Silhouettes in "don't seem like dinosaurs / are dinosaurs": Penguin, Egret, Falcon, Pigeon and Ostrich
• Silhouettes in "don't seem like dinosaurs / are not dinosaurs": Squirrel, Stapler, Bicycle , Human (here depicted as Cueball) and Pineapple

The title text is a further joke about taxonomy, seemingly predicated on the assumption that staplers are biological organisms, and can thus be sorted into taxa. Pseudosuchia is in fact the clade that encompasses all crocodilians, and staplers bear a certain resemblance to the open mouth of a crocodilian.

The original Linnaean taxonomy did at first have a top-level classification for "mineral" taxonomy, in addition to those for animal and plant, which in its broadest sense might allow one to assign a stapler a taxonomic relationship with dinosaurs.

Creatures that seem like dinosaurs, but are not

Dinosaur is a paleonotology term which refers to a specific group of reptiles, based upon evolutionary lines, bone structure and living domain. However, it is also a popular science/cultural term which refers to extinct large reptiles, hence the confusion between what is scientifically included and what is culturally assumed to be included.

The creatures listed are:

• A mosasaur is an extinct aquatic reptile, looking similar to a dolphin, that existed at the same time as the dinosaurs. Whilst it appeared in Jurassic World, momasaurs had a different ancestor than dinosaurs
• Pleisosaurs and Pterodons are flying reptiles
• Dimetrodon
• Quetzalcoatlus

Transcript

[A 2x2 chart where each of the four quadrants contains five silhouettes. These depicts various animals a few objects and a human. Above each column and to the left of each row there are a label:]

Left column: Are dinosaurs

Right column: Are not dinosaurs

Upper row: Seem like dinosaurs

Lower row: Don't seem like dinosaurs

[Here follows a list of what are in each of the four quadrants:]

[Top left (seem like dinosaurs, are dinosaurs):]

[Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus, Diplodocus and Velociraptor.]

[Top right (seem like dinosaurs, are not dinosaurs):]

[Mosasaur, Quetzalcoatlus, Dimetrodon, Plesiosaur and Pteranodon.]

[Bottom left (don't seem like dinosaurs, are dinosaurs):]

[Penguin, Egret, Falcon, Pigeon and Ostrich.]

[Bottom right (don't seem like dinosaurs, are not dinosaurs):]

[Squirrel, Stapler, Bicycle , Human (here depicted as Cueball) and Pineapple.]

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Discussion

I don't think that's a stork. My guess would be that it's a heron. The bird in the lower right also looks like some sort of shorebird, but I've got no clue. 99.26.146.61 (talk) 19:45, 6 February 2026 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I feel like this comic should be in the explanation https://xkcd.com/1211/ 2600:4041:2E5:B900:66D3:74AD:D92D:356B 20:36, 6 February 2026 (UTC)

Could it have a brief layman's explanation of how/why the top right *aren't* dinosaurs? Y'know beyond just "well, technically..." 91.84.189.119 06:52, 7 February 2026 (UTC)

They are not dinosaurs because dinosaurs are only a subgroup of prehistoric animals living on land. Others are flying or underwater reptiles (don’t know the real names of those), or just plain reptiles who have existed (as a group) for far longer. Dinos are technically named „land reptiles“, but are not reptiles. It’s a bit confusing and this is where my half knowledge ends

2A00:1E:82C2:D401:F4A3:23F3:8A2D:63B1 09:33, 7 February 2026 (UTC)

Saying “dinosaurs are not reptiles” isn’t true, but more importantly is a strange thing to say in a scientific context. If you are using “reptile” informally, then the definition of one is fuzzy anyways. If using it cladistically, then reptile pretty much means “sauropsid” which includes dinosaurs and thus birds, which are not informally/traditionally included, so you might as well use the less ambiguous term “sauropsid”. Terdragontra (talk) 15:46, 7 February 2026 (UTC)

Did anyone else think that "Pseudo-such" things were a made up thing for staplers? Kev (talk) 13:36, 7 February 2026 (UTC

I’m interested at the things somewhere on the boundaries. Some basal forms are sometimes included as dinosaurs and sometimes just outside the clade. And som nonbird dinosaurs are somewhat birdlike, and shoebills feel more dinosaury than the average bird (while hummingbirds feel less so). Terdragontra (talk) 15:48, 7 February 2026 (UTC)
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