2014-10-23
Explanation
The Joke
A child excitedly tells his father that he loves Brontosaurus the most -- even more than his own daddy. In the next panel, labeled "Later...", a scientist at a podium announces that the species has been reclassified as Apatosaurus, and that "Brontosaurus never existed." The child looks devastated.
The Humor
The comic plays on the real-life paleontological reclassification of Brontosaurus. For many years, scientists considered "Brontosaurus" to be a misidentified specimen of Apatosaurus, meaning the beloved dinosaur name was technically invalid. The joke is that the child's intense emotional attachment to "Brontosaurus" -- loving it even more than his father -- is cruelly undermined by cold scientific taxonomy. The humor comes from the contrast between the child's deep personal bond with a dinosaur name and the scientist's dispassionate announcement that the thing the child loves most literally "never existed." It is a playful commentary on how science can feel heartless when it corrects beloved cultural touchstones.
References
The Brontosaurus/Apatosaurus naming controversy is a famous episode in paleontology. In 1903, Elmer Riggs determined that Brontosaurus was the same genus as the earlier-named Apatosaurus, making "Brontosaurus" technically invalid under taxonomic naming rules. Interestingly, a 2015 study (published after this comic) argued that Brontosaurus was distinct enough to be its own genus again, partially vindicating the child's love.