Chickens with Teeth

And not just any teeth. Crocodile teeth.

Here’s an interesting article on a mutation that scientists have uncovered, where a chicken embryo grows teeth. The mutations are fatal. The embryo dies in the egg, but some live as long as 18 days.

What’s most interesting about this is that the teeth are shaped like crocodile teeth. What the authors hypothesis is that during the evolution of birds, the genes for teeth weren’t thrown away, rather they were supressed so that they no longer expressed themselves.

Another thing that’s interesting to note is that we’ve believed birds evolved from the same group as crocodiles for a long time. While the general public may not know it, crocodiles have much more in common with birds than with your average lizard. They have crops and gizzards, three-chambered hearts, build nests, vocalize to their young.

Isn’t it just a little bit interesting that when chickens grow teeth, they end up looking just like those in a crocodile…

For a more in-depth discussion, see Pharyngula’s post on the subject.