In a bizarre experiment, scientists have managed to create chicken embryos with dinosaur snouts instead of regular beaks, indicating that the bird owns its origin to the Avian dinosaurs.

According to Live Science, scientists have used molecular tinkering to successfully create chicken embryos with dinosaur snouts. The development of these embryos with Velociraptor-like muzzles in the place of their beaks actually hints at the possibility of a link between the harmless chickens and their avian ancestors - the flying reptiles or dinosaurs.

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More reports on Popsci pointed out that the series of experiments, leading to the development of these embryos, were performed by Scientists in Yale. The new creation is being called the dino-chicken. These experiments were recently published in a journal titled "Evolution," drawing the attention of media across the globe. Reports also quoted  Bhart-Anjan Bhullar, the lead author of the study, saying that the core purpose of the experiment was to understand the molecular structure of the chicken's beak and introduce the world to dino-chicken.

As part of the studies, Bhullar and his colleagues looked into the fossils of several dinosaurs with beaks to understand how the structure rounded-off to evolve into the modern day beaks in birds.Gradually, the scientists identified a very specific gene expression that was responsible for the occurrence of the beak.

The research also included studying the bone structure of modern birds and trying to trace back to their origin. Later on, the scientists affirmed that a particular gene expression was controlling the shape of the beak. Ever since the dinosaur era, the evolution of this gene expression is what has led to the change in the shape of the beak.

In this experiment, the scientists used an inhibitor to stop the genetic signals from travelling to the embryo and controlling the shape of the beak, thereby causing them to develop dinosaur snouts. 

TagsScience news, scientists news, freak experiments, chicken embryos, chicken and dinosaurs