vavilov
Original: vavilov on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Narrator: There is an evolutionary concept sometimes called Vavilovian mimicry.
Man in hat: Basically, a plant will mimic a food crop so that it doesn't get removed for being a weed.
Speech bubble (plant): Hey! That guy over there is a weed too! You're just pretending to be grain!
Panel 2:
Narrator: The classic example is rye, once considered a nuisance to farmers.
(A scraggly wild rye plant is shown.)
Narrator: Rye evolved larger seeds and became an annual plant. Rye became a valuable crop.
(A fuller, cultivated rye plant is shown.)
Panel 3:
Narrator: My question is, if there's a tasty grain we have domesticated by accident...
(Bottles of liquor/spirits are shown.)
Narrator: ...what other things could be domesticating us the same way?
Panel 4:
Man in hat: Great, huh? I'll be whatever you want! Look out for my plump seeds! Eat me, just don't pull me out by my beautiful, beautiful grain that gets eaten!
Votey:
A stalk of grain is shown with a speech bubble.
Grain: Kill me and raise my babies. This is LOVE.
Narrator: There is an evolutionary concept sometimes called Vavilovian mimicry.
Man in hat: Basically, a plant will mimic a food crop so that it doesn't get removed for being a weed.
Speech bubble (plant): Hey! That guy over there is a weed too! You're just pretending to be grain!
Panel 2:
Narrator: The classic example is rye, once considered a nuisance to farmers.
(A scraggly wild rye plant is shown.)
Narrator: Rye evolved larger seeds and became an annual plant. Rye became a valuable crop.
(A fuller, cultivated rye plant is shown.)
Panel 3:
Narrator: My question is, if there's a tasty grain we have domesticated by accident...
(Bottles of liquor/spirits are shown.)
Narrator: ...what other things could be domesticating us the same way?
Panel 4:
Man in hat: Great, huh? I'll be whatever you want! Look out for my plump seeds! Eat me, just don't pull me out by my beautiful, beautiful grain that gets eaten!
Votey:
A stalk of grain is shown with a speech bubble.
Grain: Kill me and raise my babies. This is LOVE.
Alt text
A four-panel SMBC comic about evolution and crop domestication. Panel 1: a narrator explains "Vavilovian mimicry," where a plant mimics a food crop so it won't be pulled as a weed; a man in a hat describes it while a plant in a speech bubble accuses a neighbor: "Hey! That guy over there is a weed too! You're just pretending to be grain!" Panel 2: the classic example is rye, shown first as a scraggly wild plant once considered a nuisance, then as a fuller cultivated plant after it evolved larger seeds, became an annual, and turned into a valuable crop. Panel 3: bottles of liquor are pictured as the narrator wonders, if we've domesticated a tasty grain by accident, what other things might be domesticating us the same way. Panel 4: the man in the hat eagerly offers himself up like a crop, begging to be eaten and have his "plump seeds" spread. Votey (aftercomic): a single hand-drawn stalk of grain with a speech bubble that reads "Kill me and raise my babies. This is LOVE."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.