In the kid's book "The Enormous Egg," a chicken lays a triceratops egg. Sheer fantasy, of course, but the book's explanation (back in the 1950s!) was that there was some relationship between birds and dinosaurs, so it wasn't all THAT far-fetched.

I actually read that one when I was a child! And I am only 34... I think I read it when we moved to California for my Dad's sabbatical- I remember reading it in the car, it reminded me of 'starbeast' by Heinlein...

Evolution seems to go in "spurts." Not sure if that is a biological phenomenon, or just a reflection of rapid changes in environment. I haven't studied recent materials on this.

The more extreme the change the faster evolution goes- it is more likely that random mutations will be benificial... evolution really does not select for the most efficient form... Do you think a bull moose with those antlers is the most efficient form? No, it is a quirk of evolution.... it became a sexual trait... If a bull moose can survive with the handicap of larger antlers than most other bull moose then it must be VERY fit and desireable as a mate...

In america we find nearly anorexic females attractive- (in general) but our starving ancestors viewed a corpulent woman as the epitome of beauty... look at the carvings of fertility goddesses we have found... Kate Moss would not be as revered in ancient Rome as she is now... She would likely be viewed as weak and sick... maybe full of parasites...

I think that a lot of "unused DNA" in an organism makes evolution work more effectively, since complex solutions from the past may already be stored there. Kind of like being able to take a mutation off the shelf instead of having to assemble it bit by bit.

I agree, I think the unused DNA is likely a mutation factory... I think 'junk DNA' plays a long term purpose...

It would normally take a long time for a chicken to evolve teeth from scratch, but it only takes a couple of genetic kicks to get a chicken with teeth, since distance ancestors already had them.

It would, with a large enough population and the right environment, take a few thousand generations of chickens for 'sabre tooth' chickens to evolve...