Why can't you hear a pterodactyl pee?

The anti-joke “Why can’t you hear a pterodactyl pee? Because they’re dead.” plays with the listener’s expectations by subverting a well-known punchline. The common version of this joke ends with “Because the ‘P’ is silent,” referencing the silent “P” in the word “pterodactyl.” This punchline relies on wordplay and the peculiarities of English spelling. However, the altered punchline, “Because they’re dead,” is blunt and literal, catching the listener off guard. The humor arises from this unexpected twist, which contrasts the playful nature of the original joke with the stark reality that pterodactyls, being prehistoric creatures, are indeed extinct and dead.