# Huh: fungus more related to animals than plants. Who knew? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 26, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-fungus-more-related-to-animals-than-plants-who-knew/769776 "2016-10-26T15:02:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-fungus-more-related-to-animals-than-plants-who-knew/769776/21 "2016-10-27T19:32:36Z")
> [@D18](#): > > I’m sure lots of you all already knew this, but for those who didn’t, I thought you might be interested. > > And I never cease to be amazed at the breadth of things one can learn from XKCD! Congratulations, you’ve qualified for [this](https://xkcd.com/1053/) XKCD! ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-fungus-more-related-to-animals-than-plants-who-knew/769776/22 "2016-10-27T20:07:44Z")
^Oh my goodness, yes! I cite that every time someone snottily points out “oh, I thought everyone knew that”. Now, I may quibble with whether this is truly something “everyone” knew - Dopers being a particularly well-educated population, of course - but that is one of the most insightful of all the insightful XKCDs out there! ETA: Just noticed your join date. Has anyone welcomed you to the boards yet? If not, let me do so. We particularly like new posters who are well-versed with XKCD, so you’re off to a good start! ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-fungus-more-related-to-animals-than-plants-who-knew/769776/23 "2016-10-27T21:25:33Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Yup, fungi are eukaryotes. That’s why it’s so difficult to invent anti-fungal medications (as opposed to antibiotics) and the truly effective ones tend to do nasty stuff to your kidneys and liver. > > Another fun fact: Seaweed and kelp are algae, not plants. > > Yet another fun fact: Flowering plants didn’t become dominant until after the dinosaurs went extinct. **Erases drawing of a male tyrannosaurus presenting a bouquet of flowers to his mate** **Reads Colibri’s follow up post and says, “Damn.”** ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-fungus-more-related-to-animals-than-plants-who-knew/769776/24 "2016-10-28T02:08:12Z")
> [@D18](#): > > Question just occurred to me: was the most recent common ancestor of modern fungi and animals a fungus? No. By definition, most recent common ancestors are not considered part of either descendant group. The groups as such originate after the split. [Here’s an article](http://www.dicat.csic.es/dicat/en/noticias-2/noticias/482-scientists-find-how-the-common-ancestor-of-all-animals-fungi-and-other-unicellular-organisms-was) about what the common ancestor may have been like. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-fungus-more-related-to-animals-than-plants-who-knew/769776/25 "2016-10-28T04:29:47Z")
I’ve been watching a fungus takeover of a tree stump in my apartment complex. What started out 2 years ago as a nice specimen in the trunk hollow has progressed to a regular series of mushroom “blooms” and additional growths around the base. Pretty cool. ([link to image](https://goo.gl/photos/MC7YLGFEmmJNHqou8)) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-fungus-more-related-to-animals-than-plants-who-knew/769776/26 "2016-10-28T13:26:44Z")
> [@D18](#): > > ETA: Just noticed your join date. Has anyone welcomed you to the boards yet? If not, let me do so. Nope, and thanks. I’m sure I’ve ran into links to individual threads posted here over the years, but somehow I managed to not start browsing around the site until a couple of weeks ago–and kick myself missing out for so long. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-fungus-more-related-to-animals-than-plants-who-knew/769776/27 "2016-10-28T13:56:03Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I’ve been watching a fungus takeover of a tree stump in my apartment complex. What started out 2 years ago as a nice specimen in the trunk hollow has progressed to a regular series of mushroom “blooms” and additional growths around the base. Pretty cool. ([link to image](https://goo.gl/photos/MC7YLGFEmmJNHqou8)) If that happened to me, it would make me a real fun guy. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-fungus-more-related-to-animals-than-plants-who-knew/769776/28 "2016-10-28T14:26:02Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > No. By definition, most recent common ancestors are not considered part of either descendant group. The groups as such originate after the split. > > [Here’s an article](http://www.dicat.csic.es/dicat/en/noticias-2/noticias/482-scientists-find-how-the-common-ancestor-of-all-animals-fungi-and-other-unicellular-organisms-was) about what the common ancestor may have been like. Man, that is cool! Thank you for the reference. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/huh-fungus-more-related-to-animals-than-plants-who-knew/769776.md?page=1)