How chicken nuggets are related to the T-rex
Here are two-truths and a lie:
Dinosaurs are one of the coolest, yet scariest animals we know.
Dinosaurs are extinct.
The closest living relative to the dinosaurs are crocodiles.
#1 is obviously false, right? Dinosaurs are NOT the coolest yet scariest animals we know.
I’m kidding!!! Dinosaurs are obviously cool yet scary.
#3 is the lie - the closest living relative to dinosaurs is actually the chicken!
Yes, really!
The largest carnivore that ever walked the planet – Tyrannosaurus rex – is more closely related to the modern chicken than it is to living reptiles such as the alligator or crocodile, a study of the dinosaur's fossilised protein has found.
Think about that every time you dig into those delicious chicken nuggets!
In fact, birds are commonly thought to be the only animals around today that are direct descendants of dinosaurs.
On the other hand, crocodiles are more like the distant cousins of dinosaurs. They still exist on the same family tree, but in a different capacity - they are related, but are not their descendants.
The group Crocodilians (which include animals like the Alligators, Caiman, Crocodiles, and Gharials) evolved even before dinosaurs did, and this group of animals roamed the Earth the same time the dinos did.
Strictly speaking, birds are the only direct descendants of the giant, extinct dinosaurs, whereas Crocodilians are close relatives. Perhaps you can imagine birds as the greatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreat grandchild of dinosaurs, while crocodiles are more like distant cousins.
It may seem like a small distinction, but it is an important one. It’s why so many birds are blood-thirsty and vicious killers, even today! (I’m kidding)
Today, let’s look at some of the most vicious bad-ass birds in the world.
The chicken… womp womp
Not what you’d think of when you picture a T-rex’s great grandchild, I know, but the domestic chicken is really one of the closest living relatives to this ginormous meat-eater.
The domesticated chicken we farm and eat is actually a species called the Red Junglefowl, which is native to the region of Southeast Asia. In fact, if you live in Singapore or other Southeast Asian countries, you can still spot wild versions of this bird in parks! My favourite place to see them is in Pasir Ris Park.
The domestic chicken is thought to have been domesticated by 1500 BCE in peninsular Southeast Asia. You can thank the countries of Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand and Vietnam for chicken nuggets!!!!!!
There are an estimated 33 billion farmed chickens in the world. That may seem like a lot, but it really isn’t - it’s about 4 chickens to every human. However, in the last several years, poultry has overtaken pork as the most produced type of meat worldwide.
So how was the link between chickens and T-rexes first discovered? I mean, they look nothing alike.
It was actually totally by pure luck!!
In 2003, two scientists had discovered a large, T-rex femur bone. That’s the thigh bone, and it's the longest, strongest bone in the body. Because T-rexes are so tall, though, the two scientists were unable to fit the femur on the helicopter they had chartered.
In desperation, they broke the femur bone in half. This allowed the femur bone(s) to fit on their helicopter. But the two eagle-eyed scientists realised that the inside of the bone was actually unfossilised - they were later able to retrieve molecules of collagen (a type of protein) from within this unfossilised bone marrow, and were able to study this protein.
They compared this T-rex protein with that of other animals, and found that the T-rex’s collagen was most similar to chickens and ostriches.
Ostriches? Okay, better. They actually look kinda scary!
Unlike the chicken (whose name literally is used to refer to when someone is being, well, a chicken) the Common Ostrich is much more respectable as a dominating figure!
Chickens and ostriches are only distantly related to each other, though.
So far, the research done by scientists haven’t given us much more.
Getting more answers about how chickens and T-rex’s are closely related require data from more molecules than just collagen. Whether scientist they are currently cracking any more giant femurs in half to search for fossil material has not been divulged!
That’s all for today.
I hope you think about dinosaurs every time you bite into a delicious chicken dinner!
See you guys in the next article!
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they couldn't get a bigger helicopter?
Hahaha I like the dinosaur chicken photo!