Chickens are Among the Closest Living Relatives of the T. Rex

The end of the dinosaurs is often pictured as an apocalyptic event complete with a giant asteroid, a cataclysmic collision, and general fire and brimstone-type stuff. 

But the ends of biological epochs are rarely so cut-and-dried. 

In fact, the story of the dinosaurs didn’t even end on that unfortunate spring day 65 million years ago, because dinosaurs still live among us. We just call them birds.

Today, scientists consider all birds a type of dinosaur, descendants of creatures who survived the mass extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period. And yes, that even includes the chicken. 

In 2008, scientists performed a molecular analysis of a shred of 68 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex protein, and compared it to a variety of proteins belonging to many different animals. 

Although proteins from alligators were relatively close, the best match by far belonged to ostriches, the largest flightless birds on Earth, and the humble chicken. 

Today’s chicken is a descendant of a still-extant tropical bird known as the red junglefowl, and a member of an order of birds known as Galliformes (gallus means “rooster” in Latin). 

Following the initial 2008 study, further research has proved that a chicken’s genetic lineage closely resembles that of its avian dinosaur ancestors. 

Scientists have even concluded that a reconstruction of T. rex’s chromosomes would likely produce something similar to a chicken, duck, or ostrich. 

So the next time you eat a chicken for dinner, you might pause to consider its connection to some of the most fearsome beasts to ever stalk the planet.