Biology
Think of a flightless bird. (Any penguin fans?) Your bird evolved from ancestors that could fly. It is thought that flight was lost when these ancestors no longer needed to fly from predators. What about the world’s most beloved flightless bird? Those powerful, yellow wingbeats could have been the last sound you ever heard.
My Big Bird ancestor has teeth. Teeth are something else that birds lost as they evolved from (famously) toothy dinosaurs. Modem birds still have most of the genes needed to make teeth sitting quietly in their DNA. Here’s a published account of a mutant chicken in which these genes were switched back on and rudimentary teeth developed. (111 words)
Drawing
Thanks to American Bystander for publishing this cartoon. I had pitched it to several different magazines with no luck. I’m glad it found a home. Here are some early sketches where I was trying to figure out exactly what a flying Big Bird would look like.