Chickens Are Not Dinosaurs, but …
When it comes to that well-known giant with teeth, chickens are a closer relative than most
I have been challenged for referring to my flock as dinosaurs, on the grounds that they’re not. I can’t argue — not with that anyway. I have an argument up my sleeve, but more on that later.
Let’s be clear: a chicken is not a dinosaur. Nonetheless, it is the closest we have.
Tyranosaurus Rex DNA has been compared to the DNA of modern species. Did the closest match turn out to be the chicken? Well, yes, sort of… Certainly, birds were a closer match than anything else, closer than any reptile, and of the birds tested, chickens and ostriches came out the closest.
There are obvious differences. Hens don’t have teeth. If hens had teeth, the world would be bereft of the saying “As rare as hens’ teeth,” and, in my opinion, there would be far fewer hens in the world — a flock of hens with working sets of choppers would not find homes in half as many places. The hen is as successful as it is because it lives so easily alongside humans. It can do enough damage with its head-mounted pickaxe to make certain that hens with teeth would be reclassified as dangerous.
You might have spotted a bit of an elephant in the room here, and be wondering just…
