Matthew Richardson digs himself a hole with ‘embarrassing’ on-air hen question

Richmond champion Matthew Richardson dug himself into a hole he couldn’t get out of when he wondered out loud about chicken biology during his AFL commentary duties.

Channel 7 commentator Matthew Richardson needs to study up on chooks.

Matthew Richardson dug himself into a hole he couldn’t get out of when he wondered about the origin of a common phrase during his AFL commentary duties.

As Geelong stretched its lead against North Melbourne on Saturday night, Richo offered his expert analysis on the Kangaroos’ poor goalkicking — they finished the game with just one goal and eight behinds.

“(Shaun) Higgins missed one he’d normally kick, (Jack) Ziebell’s missed that one, they’re like hen’s teeth here tonight, those shots, got to make the most (of them),” he said on Channel 7.

He continued: “Why are hen’s teeth rare, by the way? I’ve got no idea.”

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When colleagues James Brayshaw and Luke Darcy pointed out that chickens don’t have any pearly whites inside their beaks, Richo stood his ground.

“They don’t have any? Not one? Surely you’ve got one or two teeth in there somewhere.”

The Richmond champion tried to explain himself after the game, confessing a boundary rider’s lament.

“I just thought that because they were rare maybe they did have a couple.

“That’s embarrassing. I knew halfway through, but it was too late.”

Oh boy, @mattricho0 🐔 pic.twitter.com/cy3mxQWlDP

— 7AFL (@7AFL) August 10, 2019

But his gaffe might not be as embarrassing as he thinks.

In fact, US researches have found a mutant strain of chicken that does appear to have teeth.

It turns out the genes that make teeth were switched off in chooks millions of years ago but in special cases they can be switched back on, creating teeth similar to those found in baby crocodiles.

“The genes for teeth are still in the bird genomes,” University of California biologist Michael Levine told NPR.

But of the world’s 19 billion chooks, the overwhelming majority are toothless. Sorry, Richo.

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