mimic-2
Explanation
The Joke
The comic shows a scrawny, unremarkable man at the beach with his shirt off. He appears to have a large, detailed tattoo on his torso depicting an extremely muscular, intimidating man. A woman (and another onlooker) stare at him. The caption reads: "In order to deter predators, Steve gets a tattoo of a much stronger man."
The joke applies the concept of biological mimicry -- where harmless animals evolve to look like dangerous ones to scare off predators -- to a human social context. Just as a harmless butterfly might have wing patterns that mimic a predator's eyes, Steve has gotten a tattoo of a buff, threatening man on his skinny body, hoping it will make him appear more formidable.
The Humor
The humor comes from the absurd literalism of applying an animal kingdom survival strategy to a human beach scenario. In nature, mimicry works because predators process visual patterns instinctively and are genuinely fooled. But a tattoo of a strong man on a weak man's body would fool absolutely nobody -- it would just look bizarre. The comic also plays on the real-world phenomenon of people getting muscular or intimidating tattoos to project toughness, gently mocking it by framing it in the clinical language of a nature documentary.
References
The title "Mimic" and the caption's phrasing reference Batesian mimicry, a form of biological mimicry where a harmless species evolves to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species to deter predators.