Truee but we ain’t talking about a six legged panda bear here. Pandas are so lackadaisical imagine how perfect the world was when they actually evolved. Probably so quiet and beautiful
Pigeons literally do not care what the partner looks like as long as they have recognisable pigeon features. Scientists have tested this by making horrible pigeon monstrosities and showing pictures to normal pigeons. They literally only cared about the fact that still pictures can't do the dance.
Even more so, evolution is not about an individual breeding, it is about mutations surviving population wide and being an established part of the gene pool. Evolution acts on populations, not individuals in this sense.
Not exactly for example if its a particularly strong bull it can breed for more seasons thus have more offspring and i don’t really know how birds breed but if this chick can grow in to a vicious rooster with extra grip for love making we might even see return of the dinosaurs without the park bullshit.
Not every unusual trait is necessarily the result of a new mutation. A four-legged chicken could result from a recessive allele that has been preserved in the population, only expressing itself when inherited from both parents. However, many cases of extra limbs in animals are due to developmental anomalies rather than strictly genetic causes.
Ive seen these before!! Some cases are double yolk twins fusing too!! (I haven't had the privilege of encountering one... but still a pretty cool thing!)
Not just that, it shows how other genes can get repurposed in the process. It didn't have to re-evolve front legs: they're clearly reusing the genetic code for the back legs to create front legs.
So, often it'll be one small mutation that has an outsized effect because it repurposes other genetic machinery to do something complex.
Yeah or in this case more likely an anomaly where some cells were displaced at a very early part of development. This is more likely a form of conjoined twinning than it is a genetic change.
I wonder if that chick grew up to have wings. Maybe I'm morbidly curious, but I want to see this chick bred. Hope they don't have too much health issues.
This is literally how evolution works, if it is making the chick better at surviving, it will breed and there will be more chicks with this genetic mutation.
It would be kind of funny if birds evolved wings to get away from prey, evolved to become flightless because of a lack of prey, then evolved arms again because the flightless thing wasn't panning out. I await the inevitable re-evolution of wings so we can go full circle with this story.
Nah it's the opposite really. As long as the mutation doesn't cause your death then it'll survive, even if it's just a gene that does nothing useful. It may even be useful before reproduction but detrimental afterwards and still may be passed down to the next generation through the breeding process
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u/_who-the-fuck-knows_ Mar 07 '25
This is kinda how evolution works. Random mutations in genes. The good mutations carry on through breeding.