Title text: I feel bad for Earth 2 and their shadowflies.
Transcript: xkcd comics picture
[Cueball and Megan are seen in silhouette (drawn in white against a black background) throughout the strip. They are walking to the right.]
Cueball: So where is this spot?
Megan: It’s just up ahead.
[Cueball and Megan continue walking.]
Megan: You know,
Megan: fireflies didn’t have to exist.
[Closeup on Megan.]
Megan: The ocean has lots of bioluminescence, but it’s less common on land.
Megan: Creatures that glow are pretty rare here.
[Cueball and Megan continue walking. The light of one firefly is seen to their right.]
Megan: So it’s not some niche whose exploitation was inevitable.
Megan: If insects hadn’t stumbled on their fatty acid enzyme trick, Earth just wouldn’t have fireflies.
Megan: Ooh, look!
Megan: They’re starting!
[A panel as wide as the first four combined. Cueball and Megan stand in the tall grass, at night, and many stars can be seen in the sky above them. Above and below them, to their left and right, the lights of dozens of fireflies can be seen.]
Cueball: I’m glad we got a planet that has these.
Megan: Yeah, it’s a good one.
I keep my lawn long in the summer so they have a place. Neighbors spray their yards and get none while mine lights up like the night sky
Too bad loss of habitat, light pollution, and pesticides are threatening and endangering several species of fireflies.
My daughter has been out catching (and releasing) firefly’s the past week or two. It’s such an amazing little nod to doing something that probably every past generation of kids can relate to.
She probably has nearly nothing in common with her 5x great grandma but I bet they both caught fireflys.
You should include the alt text when you post xkcd
Alt text: I feel bad for Earth 2 and their shadowflies.
It is, “Title text” at the top of the body of the post ;)
