If "Jurassic Park" movies have taught us anything, it's that we definitely shouldn't try to resurrect dinosaurs.
Though it seems impossible to bring them back since nearly all of
their species were wiped out around 65 million years ago, scientists
just proved that some of their physical characteristics can actually be
replicated in the modern descendants of feathered dinosaurs, the only
group that survived extinction. But there's no need to be afraid of
Tyrannosaurus rexes and Velociraptors running rampant because the only
things you need to worry about are chickens with dinosaur faces. Yep,
you read that correctly.
Chickens, along with other birds, are the evolved forms of
certain dinosaur species. Instead of having beaks, though, their
ancestors had snouts.
A team of biologists wanted to find out how birds evolved to
have beaks, so they isolated a cluster of genes specifically related to
facial development in birds and found a way to stop them in a group of
chicken embryos.
They used beads coated with an inhibiting substance to
suppress proteins that would have developed beaks. This gave the embryos
dinosaur-like snouts and palates instead.
It's a shame that we likely won't get to see these little buggers
alive, but something tells me that might be for the best. Share if the
idea of dino-chicken hybrids gives you the creeps!
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