Chickens Will Grow Teeth If Pigs Can Fly! You might want to start looking for a sky for those flying pigs, because scientists have discovered a mutated chicken with a complete set of teeth that can chew like a crocodile.
The mutated chicken, named Talpid, also had severely deformed limbs and died before hatching. It was found 50 years ago, but no one has examined its beak until now.
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A normal chicken on the left, Talpid on the right. The mutated jaw clearly shows teeth. (LiveScience) |
“What we found is a jaw structure similar to that of a crocodile – which is not too surprising since birds are the closest living relatives of crocodiles</em," said Mark Ferguson from the University of Manchester.
What Happened
About 300 million years ago, the ancestors of all modern vertebrates split into two branches: mammals and reptiles/birds. The oldest reptiles, such as crocodiles and American alligators, all had conical teeth. The same goes for the oldest birds, known as archosaurs.
And, around 80 million years ago, modern birds appeared without teeth.
“So what could bird teeth look like? Of course, they would resemble their ancestors and their closest living relatives,” said co-researcher John Fallon from the University of Wisconsin.
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The conical teeth of Talpid. (LiveScience) |
In fact, Talpid’s conical teeth are very similar to those of archosaurs and closely resemble the teeth of a juvenile crocodile or American alligator, Fallon noted. If the animal had lived, its chewing apparatus would have been capable of orienting inwards.
Archosaurs have jaws similar to the snout shape of crocodiles. Thus, the development of the beak has led birds to lose their teeth.
Creating More Mutations
This discovery has piqued scientists’ curiosity about whether healthy chickens possess the genetic pathway from 80 million years ago that allowed for tooth growth.
By inducing several mutations, they were able to grow teeth in normally developing chicken embryos. These teeth appeared similar to those of reptiles and shared many genetic characteristics, supporting the scientists’ hypothesis. However, none of these chicken embryos were allowed to hatch.
A direct application of this research, Ferguson stated, could be the ability to regrow teeth for individuals who have lost their dentition due to accidents or diseases.
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