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| - The grandchild of Somewhere a Palaeontologist Is Crying. Most animators are mammals, and they tend not to be careful with the research when it comes to non-mammals. So, for whatever reason, cartoon birds tend to be quite unlike anything seen in Real Life. Almost all generic small cartoon birds will behave like robins, hopping around on the lawn and eating worms. And they will appear as a Palette Swapped sparrow, often bright yellow or blue, with a yellow beak and legs. The grandchild trope of Somewhere a Palaeontologist Is Crying and sister trope of Raptor Attack.
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| abstract
| - The grandchild of Somewhere a Palaeontologist Is Crying. Most animators are mammals, and they tend not to be careful with the research when it comes to non-mammals. So, for whatever reason, cartoon birds tend to be quite unlike anything seen in Real Life. Cartoon birds in starring roles tend to be one of only five or six semi-recognizable species. Ducks, chickens, owls, and penguins are particularly popular and will all look pretty generic. In some cases, you will have to take the writer's word for it what species they are meant to be. Parrots are also popular and they'll sport generic chicken-like bird feet and will either be pure green with huge yellow beaks, or have cockatoo crests and a bizarre mix of rainbow colors. Birds of prey other than owls tend to look like an odd combination of any carnivorous bird; in particular cartoonists seem to get hawks and vultures confused with each other (and sometimes Corvids are tossed into the mix too). This may be because of the "buzzard" confusion (in Europe a buzzard is a type of hawk like an American Red-Tail, while in parts of America, a buzzard is a small condor also known as a Turkey Vulture.) Almost all generic small cartoon birds will behave like robins, hopping around on the lawn and eating worms. And they will appear as a Palette Swapped sparrow, often bright yellow or blue, with a yellow beak and legs. A major subtrope is the idea that all birds are chickens. Even today, when your average person is unlikely to see live chickens on a regular basis, all birds seem to act like domestic fowl. They make neat nests out of straw. They spend most of the day there and all of their time sleeping there. They lay loads and loads of oval, white eggs, and these contain babies who will emerge fluffy, yellow, adorable, and constantly chirping to their mom. Mom will then immediately lead them out of the nest to hunt for worms, of course. If the show takes things far enough, the birds will hang out in a large, somewhat organized group made up mostly of females and chicks who are led by one dominant male. Whatever the birds look or behave like, they will all spend most of their time on the ground. Unless, of course, they are up in the trees or sky, caroling their little hearts out for the sheer joy of it. Barring the possibility that it really is the hardest thing in the world to crack open a Peterson Field Guide, there may be a reason for the chicken thing. This is largely a problem of Western Animation, and Disney's shadow is extremely long. Most of his characters were farmyard animals; hence the popularity of chickens as a model for all of our flight-capable theropod friends. Furthermore, many books on animal drawing will focus almost entirely on mammal anatomy -- and you might get a tiny section on the chicken to cover birds. This may or may not have to do with the fact that birds are taxonomically a Class like mammals, but show way more similarities to each other a group than mammals. Thus the phrase "birds (them) and beasts (everyone else)". Can certainly extend to other flying creatures; many are the Pterosaurs and other Giant Flyers who construct chicken-like nests. See also Feather Fingers, Noisy Nature, Toothy Bird, and Acrophobic Bird. See also No Cartoon Fish and All Animals Are Dogs. The grandchild trope of Somewhere a Palaeontologist Is Crying and sister trope of Raptor Attack. Examples of Somewhere an Ornithologist Is Crying include:
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