February 22, 2006
THE EGG TOOTH CAME FIRST
Surprise: Chickens Can Grow Teeth (Bjorn Carey, Livescience.com, 2/22/06)
Chicken will grow teeth when pigs can fly.Posted by David Cohen at February 22, 2006 2:21 PMWell, better start searching the skies for flying pork—scientists have discovered a mutant chicken with a full set of crocodile-like chompers.
The mutant chick, called Talpid, also had severe limb defects and died before hatching. It was discovered 50 years ago, but no one had ever examined its mouth until now.
The researchers recently created more Talpids by tweaking the genes of normal chickens to grow teeth.
A biological sport--happens all the time.
One of the links on the livescience site is ti a story about flourescent green pigs,the product of jellyfish gene splicing. Now that's a story. It will make the pigs easier to see when they fly.
Posted by: Lou Gots at February 22, 2006 3:45 PMDon't all chicks have an egg tooth that they use to break the shell?
[Thanks. That was driving me crazy.]
Posted by: oj at February 22, 2006 4:15 PMGreen pigs? Really? They still taste like BBQ though, right?
Posted by: John Resnick at February 22, 2006 4:28 PMStories like this are as rare as . . . brace yourself! . . . hen's teeth.
(ducks)
Posted by: Mike Morley at February 22, 2006 10:36 PMCute story, but please don't print any more. If She Who Must Be Obeyed discovers there are fluorescent green pigs she will want one, and then I shall have to walk it.
Posted by: joe shropshire at February 23, 2006 12:59 AM