Scientists in Chile Create Chicken Embryo with dinosaur legs

Scientists in Chile have come up with a chicken embryo that created dinosaur-like feet after genetic manipulation. It has highlighted the evolutionary relation between theropod dinosaurs and birds.

Alexander Vargas, one of the six researchers at the University of Chile, said that the study, that appeared last week in the journal Evolution, has shown that by stopping early maturation of a leg of the chicken embryo, the leg takes the shape similar as that of dinosaurs' legs used to have.

On Tuesday, while speaking to AFP, Vargas said that the outcome was a chicken embryo with dinosaur legs. He explained what amounts to reverse evolution.

Theropods are a group of dinosaurs that were carnivores in the beginning but evolved to consume plants and insects. Over 145 million years back, birds evolved from tiny theropods in the Jurassic period.

During the study, the scientists manipulated the Indian Hedgehog Homolog gene familiar to all animals, including man.

They attempted to shed light on when birds possessed a dinosaur-like fibula bone. When the early development was delayed, the bone got into the tubular shape it used to have in dinosaurs.

Vargas mentioned that the study should play a part in revealing fresh information about not only the links between birds and dinosaurs, but also on the genetic changes that were part of the evolution.

According to the study headed by Brazilian Joao Botelho at the University of Chile, it has also given confirmation to the theory that a bone can be forced to grow again but this time with characteristics from the evolutionary past by interfering with early maturation.

Anyway, this is something that paleontologists want everybody should understand. However, because evolution has changed the chicken belonging to a Triassic beast to the nuggets known today, they’ve lost many genetic traits of their ancestors. In today’s era, instead of breeding baby, a Tyrannosaurus Rex chickenosauruses can be created.