In case toothed chickens were needed?
So where is the 'turn on the tabasco for the buffalo wings' genetic switch? That would be valuable and delicious.
na, just shows teeth are part of chickens genetic programming that can be activated if the right switch is activated. pretty ingenious if you ask me.
And when do you think the switch will be activated, and in response to what environmental stimulus? At the present time, there is no selective pressure to maintain the necessary genes against random disruption. What's going to preserve the genes until they're needed?
You know, there are a few other animals with interesting tooth development. One is the platypus. The babies have teeth in their jaws, but they never erupt. Another one is baleen whales who erupt teeth in the fetus which are absorbed before birth.
I have a hard time imagining baleen whales ever evolving into something that uses teeth, but I guess it's possible.
Isn't just the damnedest coincidence that all of these toothless animals had toothed ancestors? And in the toothed mammals we see an example of recapitulation.