Episode 2. Phenotypic Mismatch.
Released March 24, 2025. Back to more Climate Comic Strips.
Detailed Description
Changes in seasonal conditions can cause phenotypic mismatch — a situation when a being’s traits do not “match” its environment — making it more difficult for beings like snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) to survive in the land of the Menominee.
Menominee Language
Wǣqsēh-kēsekat ayāwek akuaceh? — What kind of day is it outside?
pepōnōwew — it is winter
kōn — snow
neqat — brother
ākemak — snowshoes
wāpos — rabbit
kāēhkaeh - hawk
Comic Strip Text Transcription
When pepōnōwew, snowshoe wāpos changes from brown to white to blend in with a snowy background. But what happens when there is no kōn?
White snowshoe wāpos: ”Posoh neqat! Where is all the snow?”
Brown snowshoe wāpos: “I don’t know, it has been a strange winter…”
As winters grow shorter and snow cover decreases, the white wāpos is mismatched and stands out from a snowless background.
White snowshoe wāpos: “It seems like more recently we are getting less and less snow.”
The mismatched white wāpos is easier for predators to see…
…making it harder for the wāpos to survive.
Downy woodpecker: “Hoq! Did you see that?”
Yellow-bellied sapsucker: “Holaay! Without snowy winters, wāpos won’t survive here.”
Brown snowshoe wāpos: “Oh, my poor neqat!”
Credits/Usage
This image is free to download and use with attribution to the College of Menominee Nation - Sustainable Development Institute.
Script co-written by Allison Scott, Jennifer Gauthier, and Nicholas Schwitzer, and Sara Smith. Art by Nicholas Schwitzer. Funding provided by the Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center. Created in partnership by the College of Menominee Nation - Sustainable Development Institute, Indigenous Climate Resilience Network, and Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center.
The content of this comic cannot be fed into or used by any artificial intelligence program for any use whatsoever. Any violation of this infringes the copyrights held individually by the creative team (Smith, Scott, Gauthier, and Schwitzer) and the institutions (College of Menominee Nation - Sustainable Development Institute, Indigenous Climate Resilience Network, and Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center). All violations are an infringement on our creative work. This statement applies to any and all digital and physical copies of this comic.