A bit of a flawed comic strip due to some taxonomic inaccuracies, but the punchline makes it a favorite for herpetologists.
An XKCD comic: https://xkcd.com/867/
Edit: spelling
I love how it pokes fun at an ackshyually, and then proposes a monophyletic clade for arseholes.
…at the end of the day herpetology studies tetrapods minus the ones that ornithologists and mammalogists called dibs on. You’ll see the same in medicine - vets treating all animals, except the species that physicians said “NOPE, I GOT THIS ONE”.
Small animals is a specialism. Like just animals that are small. Actually, so is exotics! So the same guy is treating parrots, reptiles, and monkeys. That’s ridiculous.
Alt-text (Since OP forgot): “Birds are Aves, which is part of the clade Theropoda, which is in Saurischia, which is in Dinosauria. Those birds outside our windows are dinosaurs. We can clear out the rest of our brains because we now have the best fact.”
I’m with the ornithologists. Herpetology is weird.
A badge we weirdos wear with honour.
Wait till you discover derpetology