Ah, Jonathan! Study evolution properly, and you will see how all this works ....

jordaneakwall, London, UK

50 million years ago, eh? - Creationalists, respond?

Colin, Bomlo, Norway

Increadible stuff, I love hearing about all the great discoveries we continue to make in all areas of science and discovery.

As to this discussion below; is colin actually saying he doesn't believe in fossils?! Of course soft tissue breaks down, its not made from the same materials as bone.

Adam Webb, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Fred, we do watch wood petrify, in Lough Neagh. How do fossils form from gobbled up bodies? How long does it take for soft tissue to disappear, you'll not find that on a few years dead body. Sorry too many gaps and suppositions.

Colin, kilrea,

Isn't this just another saw-billed duck, like a merganser?

Rob Oldfield, York,

@Jonathan: Either it developed them until it out competed it's competitors or through developing them it could move to a strategy of skimming fish allowing it to carve it's own niche.

@Colin: This does happen now. But no-one's interested in the slowly calcify skull of a seagull.

bob, london,

Colin McIntosh - you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the fossilization process. It is an ongoing process that IS happening right now, this very second. However, you'll have to check back again in AT LEAST 10,000 years to see the results. In the meantime you could always watch wood petrify..?!

Fred, Elstree,

I'm always amazed at these figures grasped from thin air, a big duck with serrated teeth like a crocodiles, which flew about 50 million years ago, or 60 million, well, somewhere about that time. Give or take the odd million year or two

T. Ann Porage, Newport,

Colin, Fossils are rare because they require a very specific set of circumstances to be in place to allow their formation. It's not a case of simply 'just being covered in sediment'. Most remains simply decompose. People need to realise we are actually very lucky to find any at all.

Bob, Perth, Scotland

The Goose could easily 're-evolve' teeth. All that needs to happen is a branch of the species finds itself with a particular advantage for a particular prey and natural selection does the rest. If the mutation is beneficial it will survive until it becomes a hindrance, say the disapearance of prey.

Bob, Perth, Scotland

Its really not so strange to have "tooth like projections". Mute swans fro example have serrations on the edge of their beak to hold on to their food - as anyone who has held on to the bread too long when feeding them will testify.

Bill Lionheart, Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire

'When the bird died it sank to the bottom of the sea, where it was preserved after becoming covered in sediment.' Why does this not now? Look at how many fossils we would have over the past few hundred years. Lets look at the reality of unmasked facts.

Colin McIntosh, Kilrea,

Quite right Jonathan... I don't think they 're-evolved' teeth as suggested, it's just that no earlier fossils of this bird have been found yet.

Jeff, Somerset, UK

Evolution is amazing! Different animals can try the same approach but evolution still eliminates them both.
Time is the "God" of Evolution, which is why creationists only want to admit the world was made a few thousand years ago.

Kev Rain, Wycombe, UK

Oh how joyfully mad! Evolution and now re-evolution? Wonderful! If the teeth were needed to hold on to the prey, then how did Mother Goose last enough generations to get the teeth in the first place? A good imagination is important in developing theory, but a good does of common sense helps (-:

Jonathan Bush, Southam, UK