Scientists create dino-faced chicken to understand the evolution of the beak

In an experiment that sounds at home in a mad scientist’s lair, researchers have created chicken embryos with the snouts and palates similar to dinosaurs’.

In a study published in the journal Evolution, the researchers outlined how they were able to create chicken embryos that had snouts instead of beaks and dinosaur-like palates.

Birds are believed to have evolved from feathered dinosaurs, and at some point the dinosaurs’ snouts changed into birds’ beaks.

Why so much interest in bird beaks? According to the researchers, the beak is a “key evolutionary innovation” that has allowed birds to survive in a variety of different environments. Different types of beaks serve different functions and allow different species to eat different diets.

To test how beaks evolved in modern-day birds, the researchers used inhibitors to replicate the embryo development of ancestral bird species. Aside from chicken embryos, the scientists also experimented on alligators, emus, lizards, turtles, and mice embryos.

“I wanted to know what the beak was skeletally, functionally and when this major transformation occurred from a normal vertebrate snout to the very unique structures used in birds,” lead author Bhart-Anjan Bhullar of Yale University told the BBC.

The researchers found that there was a cluster of genes that relate to facial development in birds, a cluster not present in species without beaks. Using inhibitors to silence these genes, they found that instead of developing beaks, the embryos developed snouts and palates similar to those of bird ancestors’.

At the moment, the team has no plans to hatch the dino-faced chickens, but Bhullar believes that the chicks could survive if hatched.

“These weren't drastic modifications. They are far less weird than many breeds of chicken developed by chicken hobbyists and breeders.”

But it’s beside the point since the team doesn’t have the ethical approval to hatch the chickens anyway. “The rest of the animal looked okay, but one needs to think about this carefully from an ethical point of view,” Bhullar added. — Bea Montenegro/DVM, GMA News