Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

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Crotalus Horridus
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Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

Unread post by Crotalus Horridus »

The title is the question that I am trying to ask... Can we recreate the great reptilian archosaurs that walked the Earth. Well, no. Not exactly. Sadly, we cannot create Jurassic Park with all the dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus Rex and Utahraptor (Yeah, I know they're Velociraptors in the movie, but they resemble Utahraptors in shape and size.) But, don't be sad yet. We CAN still create them, just not with Dino DNA. What we can do is mutate the embryo of an animal(s) that are the closest to dinosaurs that we still have today. Well, what animal embryos do we need to mutate?

Well, I'm glad you asked.
Let's look at Dinosaur babies. They, when they hatched, were developed and could feed by themselves but needed to be warmed like any other baby animal. What animals today do the exact same thing? Well, it's a long list.
- Pheasants
- Chickens
- Guineafowl
- Turkeys
- Ducks (And Mergansers, which are Ducks)
- Geese
- Swans
- Kiwi
- Rhea
- Cassowaries
- Emus
- And finally, the Ostrich
All of these animals show very close similarities to the Dinosaur. Let's look at one very good and very prosperous animal, the Chicken.

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The Chicken may not look like much... HOWEVER, the Chicken is in fact the closest living relative to... The Tyrannosaurus Rex.
It does, somewhat make sense. The Chicken originates from Asia (Originally the Red Junglefowl), were Tyrannosaurus Rex fossils have recently been found. Maybe, after the great extinction, a smaller subspecies of Tyrannosaurus had evolved into the clucking little creatures we eat today.

But let's just skip that mumbo jumbo about how Chickens and the most powerful land predator ever, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, are related, let's talk about how this entire thing will play out.

Firstly, we need an embryo. This is pretty simple, as we can get one from a chicken egg. We could VERY CAREFULLY drill a whole into the egg with a tiny sterile microscope and give it all the proteins to create the little dinosaur. By the way, there are proteins that you need to create teeth, extra tail bones, and scales. Oh, and ALL of this needs to be in a very sterile environment. If anything bad like bacteria gets in the egg, then we have to start over until we succeed.

After we have at least 50 of them, which is enough for a stable breeding population, we can monitor aggression and feeding behaviors. We probably will not need to do this, as if we pick a calm quiet breed of animal (Let's say, a Barred Rock Chicken) then we don't need to monitor it as it is just a genetic mutation. They will most likely go for a very high price at the start, but with prolific breeding (Something Chickens are good at doing!) then they could be common.

(I wonder what would happen if we bred them to mostly feed on meat, grow bigger, and have sharp claws... who knows?)

EDIT: I've decided to add this part as it could be interesting to see what animals we could de-evolve into Dinosaurs.
Parrot - Psittacosaurus and other Ceratopsians
Chicken - Something along the lines of a small Raptor
Raptor (Eagles, Hawks, etc) - I can see this one creating controversy as many of these animals are endangered. But, I see it as a large Raptor.
Ratites - Ornithomimids. Kiwis are an exception, as they are endangered and controversy would be created.
Vultures - Oviraptors and Ornitholestes.
Swans, Geese, and Swan Geese - Therizinosaurids. Swans, Geese, and Swan Geese would look incredibly close to Therizinosaurids, some of the only plant-eating Therapods.
Ducks - Spinosaurids
Turkey - Probably a Medium sized Raptor
Last edited by Crotalus Horridus on Wed Jul 04, 2012 12:04 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

Unread post by Silivren »

I think... we'd have a very dangerous species on our hands. Heres the thing, I'd love to see REAL dinosaurs BUT as is shown in Jurassic Park that'd get very dangerous very quickly. If we were ever going to combine dna I'd say only go for the leaf-eating gentler species. If we had raptors running around this world could go very badly very quickly. Thats just my opinion, I would like to see something like a Wooly Mammoth cloned though! xD After reading through your idea I'm sure it could work but at the same time it makes me wonder why sceintists havent tried it already.

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Re: Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

Unread post by Crotalus Horridus »

Just because an animal has weapons of great power, does not mean it uses them well. An animal like a genetically modified chicken does not know how to slash the neck of an antelope unless you showed it how to. Even then, it will still be as docile as a chicken and will still carry chicken-ish attributes.

I'm also fascinated about how all this will turn out AFTER man. Let's say... 100 Million Years.
The Chickens that we genetically modified will probably evolve to great lengths and split off into many animals. Could we have another T-rex? Maybe. But, only time will tell, and we probably have A LOT of time to genetically change and modify our little creations. Either way, I'm still fascinated about how the future of Earth will turn out in 100 Million Years. I've seen maps of how much the world will flooded, and I have some ideas of what animals will look like. (I'll probably make another thread).
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Re: Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

Unread post by Azunara »

So.

What exactly is the point of this thread? I feel like it seems a bit of the blue. There's off-topic posts, and then there's let's post random things for whatever reason.

I feel like, Crotalus, since you really love dinosaurs, maybe you should make a larger multipurpose dinosaur discussion thread as opposed to have several different threads all focused on dinosaurs?
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Re: Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

Unread post by Crotalus Horridus »

Azunara wrote:So.

What exactly is the point of this thread? I feel like it seems a bit of the blue. There's off-topic posts, and then there's let's post random things for whatever reason.

I feel like, Crotalus, since you really love dinosaurs, maybe you should make a larger multipurpose dinosaur discussion thread as opposed to have several different threads all focused on dinosaurs?
This thread is really just a discussion thread on the recreation of these animals. Thinks like if we should do it, why should we do it, what will happen if we do it, all that stuff. But if I must make a super thread, then I shall.
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Re: Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

Unread post by Niabi »

Vulpixen wrote:After reading through your idea I'm sure it could work but at the same time it makes me wonder why scientists haven't tried it already.
I can list one REALLY good reason ...

Humans are not God and should never play God.

I understand it's sort of a contradiction, what with all the advances in medical technology and medicine we have in this age to sustain and prolong human life. But sometimes, things just happen for a reason. Nothing good ever came from introducing an unindigenous species to a new environment.
Crotalus Horridus wrote:After we have at least 50 of them, which are enough for a stable breeding population, we can monitor aggression and feeding behaviors. We probably will not need to do this, as if we pick a calm quiet breed of animal (Let's say, a Barred Rock Chicken) then we don't need to monitor it as it is just a genetic mutation. They will most likely go for a very high price at the start, but with prolific breeding (Something Chickens are good at doing!) then they could be common.

(I wonder what would happen if we bred them to mostly feed on meat, grow bigger, and have sharp claws... who knows?)
Have we learned nothing from watching Jurassic Park? Aside from all the special effects and action sequences, there was a lesson to be learned there!

Dr. Ian Malcolm said it best, "Life finds a way."

Even if we were to monitor and control such beasts, don't you think there's a chance for oversight and/or error? What would these creatures feed on exactly? And what happens if that food supply should ever run out? There's simply too many "what ifs" here and shows us how an experiment of this nature would be irresponsible and reckless.
Crotalus Horridus wrote:Just because an animal has weapons of great power, does not mean it uses them well. An animal like a genetically modified chicken does not know how to slash the neck of an antelope unless you showed it how to. Even then, it will still be as docile as a chicken and will still carry chicken-ish attributes.
Um, two words for you ... cock fight!

Killing and fighting are not learned behaviors they're instinctual. The same instinct would be inherent in dinosaurs as well.
Last edited by Niabi on Tue Jul 03, 2012 7:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

Unread post by Aleu »

The idea is very interesting, but... I'm going to cast my agreement with Niabi. As cool as that "chickenosaurs" is. (And I did get a giggle out of it.)


Humans are so obsessed with what they can that they don't stop to think if they should.

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Re: Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

Unread post by Lupis »

What Niabi said. Plus, dinosaurs can't survive in our current atmosphere. Or at least, none of the big ones. And who's feeding them? It doesn't make any sense to delay other scientific research and use up valuable supplies for… things that shouldn't really be alive anymore.

I think the idea has potential. Lots of it. But I think it could be used in much more productive ways.

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Re: Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

Unread post by Crotalus Horridus »

Niabi wrote:
Crotalus Horridus wrote:After we have at least 50 of them, which are enough for a stable breeding population, we can monitor aggression and feeding behaviors. We probably will not need to do this, as if we pick a calm quiet breed of animal (Let's say, a Barred Rock Chicken) then we don't need to monitor it as it is just a genetic mutation. They will most likely go for a very high price at the start, but with prolific breeding (Something Chickens are good at doing!) then they could be common.

(I wonder what would happen if we bred them to mostly feed on meat, grow bigger, and have sharp claws... who knows?)
Have we learned nothing from watching Jurassic Park? Aside from all the special effects and action sequences, there was a lesson to be learned there!

Dr. Ian Malcolm said it best, "Life finds a way."

Even if we were to monitor and control such beasts, don't you think there's a chance for oversight and/or error? What would these creatures feed on exactly? And what happens if that food supply should ever run out? There's simply too many "what ifs" here and shows us how an experiment of this nature would be irresponsible and reckless.
Crotalus Horridus wrote:Just because an animal has weapons of great power, does not mean it uses them well. An animal like a genetically modified chicken does not know how to slash the neck of an antelope unless you showed it how to. Even then, it will still be as docile as a chicken and will still carry chicken-ish attributes.
Um, two words for you ... cock fight!

Killing and fighting are not learned behaviors they're instinctual. The same instinct would be inherent in dinosaurs as well.
Firstly, these animals are simply genetically modified chickens, and they are NOT reptilian dinosaurs. Chickens from what we have seen are omnivores, and eat vegetation and sometimes animal matter. Oh yeah, and there is a mass-produced product specially made to feed chickens... it's called CHICKEN FEED. To put it simply, these animals are just weird chickens we call dinosaurs because we unlocked the genetic code for long forgotten attributes that the embryo had in development. Are they still a chicken? Yes. Would it still eat things Chickens do? Yes! In fact, besides the claws, teeth, and long tail, they are so genetically identical that you could probably breed them with other breeds of chickens and create new breeds of Chickenosaurus.

Killing and fighting can be learned. Mother animals in nature teach there young how to hunt, because some animals do not have that instinctual knowledge to use that big claw on there foot to slash that unsuspecting antelopes neck. Also, animals such as Crows and Keas will learn from there peers to do certain things like solve puzzles and other elaborate tricks. In fact, if a bystander watches the first animal do said thing, then it can do it much faster. And Solving Puzzles isn't the only thing, some watch there peers on how to get the best/most food from a certain location and even how to kill a large prey animal like say a Toad or a Snake.
Oh, and if the embryo was say, given a protein to have a big sharp claw on it's wing to slash rabbits, it doesn't know how to use it, because it did not naturally evolve to have a giant claw on it's wing to slash animals with.

Basically what I'm trying to say is... these are chickens that are a little different from the ones at the farm. They are not full fledged dinosaurs, but we can kinda believe it.
Unless of course, we can selectively breed them to grow larger and stronger with a greater intellect and friendliness towards man. Kinda like a dog, only it can kinda fly and looks like a Dinosaur.
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Re: Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

Unread post by Wain »

Crotalus Horridus wrote: The Chicken may not look like much... HOWEVER, the Chicken is in fact the closest living relative to... The Tyrannosaurus Rex.
It does, somewhat make sense. The Chicken originates from Asia (Originally the Red Junglefowl), were Tyrannosaurus Rex fossils have recently been found. Maybe, after the great extinction, a smaller subspecies of Tyrannosaurus had evolved into the clucking little creatures we eat today.
It's certainly a very interesting topic. :) I won't contribute much at this point except that as a geneticist by training I had to weigh in on this bit... As far as I understand it, all birds share a last common ancestor far more recently than T. rex, i.e. all birds, whether chicken or penguin or emu, are far more closely related to each other than to a Tyrannosaur and they're all equally distant in relationship to that creature. Some might share more or less similarity in posture or bone structure, but that's more a matter of subsequent evolution to fit a certain environment. :)
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Re: Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

Unread post by Gimlion »

SO, you're saying it'd be easier to make Chicguins?!?! Deal.

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Re: Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

Unread post by Acherontia »

I'd love to see it. I think around the time we manage dinosaur cloning (or creation, lol), we'll have traveled through space to another planet that we could colonize with them just to keep our own safe (no, I'm not joking, we aren't far off space travel--check out the "real Enterprise" project).

Science just isn't there yet, though. We can't manage the genetics of modern, well-known creatures, let alone creating a new one from scratch! :lol:
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Re: Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

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Aleu wrote:

Humans are so obsessed with what they can that they don't stop to think if they should.
Haha I see what you did there. Nice
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Re: Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

Unread post by Niabi »

Crotalus Horridus wrote:Firstly, these animals are simply genetically modified chickens, and they are NOT reptilian dinosaurs.
I see. Of course you must understand with a post titled "Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?", followed by the methods you posted of DNA extraction from chicken embryos, and all the subsequent posts discussing dinosaurs in general ... you can see where I'd be a little confused as to the message you were trying to get across.

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Re: Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

Unread post by Crotalus Horridus »

Wain wrote:
Crotalus Horridus wrote: The Chicken may not look like much... HOWEVER, the Chicken is in fact the closest living relative to... The Tyrannosaurus Rex.
It does, somewhat make sense. The Chicken originates from Asia (Originally the Red Junglefowl), were Tyrannosaurus Rex fossils have recently been found. Maybe, after the great extinction, a smaller subspecies of Tyrannosaurus had evolved into the clucking little creatures we eat today.
It's certainly a very interesting topic. :) I won't contribute much at this point except that as a geneticist by training I had to weigh in on this bit... As far as I understand it, all birds share a last common ancestor far more recently than T. rex, i.e. all birds, whether chicken or penguin or emu, are far more closely related to each other than to a Tyrannosaur and they're all equally distant in relationship to that creature. Some might share more or less similarity in posture or bone structure, but that's more a matter of subsequent evolution to fit a certain environment. :)
The common ancestor of birds (Feathered Dinosaur) was in the Jurassic Period by the name of Eshanosaurus. It was a Maniraptoran, which includes all sorts of feathered dinosaurs. However, it was a very early animal and lived 195 Million Years ago, so it probably was the reason why Therapods like T-rex existed, which is related to the modern chicken.
Niabi wrote:
Crotalus Horridus wrote:Firstly, these animals are simply genetically modified chickens, and they are NOT reptilian dinosaurs.
I see. Of course you must understand with a post titled "Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?", followed by the methods you posted of DNA extraction from chicken embryos, and all the subsequent posts discussing dinosaurs in general ... you can see where I'd be a little confused as to the message you were trying to get across.
I worded that wrong. The animals created in a lab are not genuine dinosaurs. Are they dinosaurs? Yeah, birds are dinosaurs, but they are classified as Avian Dinosaurs. However, with the genetic mutation, then you may be able to actually classify it as a Non-Avian Dinosaur. But you always have to wonder, what will it be put into? My guess is that Chickenosaurus will probably go in with Tyrannosaurs because of there close relation with them. Or of course, they could go into Dromeaosaurids, the family with Raptors and such.
Acherontia wrote:I'd love to see it. I think around the time we manage dinosaur cloning (or creation, lol), we'll have traveled through space to another planet that we could colonize with them just to keep our own safe (no, I'm not joking, we aren't far off space travel--check out the "real Enterprise" project).

Science just isn't there yet, though. We can't manage the genetics of modern, well-known creatures, let alone creating a new one from scratch! :lol:
I'd give Scientist about... 10 to 30 years until they can make one of these bad boys. Of course, 30 is kinda being generous, seeing as Science has really progressed in this time period and we're able to do things like making kittens glow with the genes of a jellyfish and grow human ears on rats, there's no telling what they could do.
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Re: Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

Unread post by SpiritBinder »

Crotalus Horridus wrote:Any other ideas? I think there can be a lot accomplished with this.

It's already been done...

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Dino's mixed up with chickens, nuff said.

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Re: Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

Unread post by Crotalus Horridus »

Spiritbinder wrote:
Crotalus Horridus wrote:Any other ideas? I think there can be a lot accomplished with this.

It's already been done...

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Dino's mixed up with chickens, nuff said.
I've tried those before! They're... alright >.>
They taste kinda like chicken nuggest from Mc Donalds. You know the ones made from a pink paste called Chicken Paste that looks like Elephants Toothpaste/Bubblegum.
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Re: Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

Unread post by Wain »

Spiritbinder wrote:
Crotalus Horridus wrote:Any other ideas? I think there can be a lot accomplished with this.

It's already been done...

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Dino's mixed up with chickens, nuff said.

This is the funniest post I've seen in the forums in months. I couldn't stop laughing. I give this five egg-dipped and breadcrumb-coated <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
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Re: Recreating Dinosaurs: Can we do it?

Unread post by Wain »

Crotalus Horridus wrote:The common ancestor of birds (Feathered Dinosaur) was in the Jurassic Period by the name of Eshanosaurus. It was a Maniraptoran, which includes all sorts of feathered dinosaurs. However, it was a very early animal and lived 195 Million Years ago, so it probably was the reason why Therapods like T-rex existed, which is related to the modern chicken.
Sorry, you misunderstood me. I wasn't very clear. :) The last common ancestor of all modern birds was more recent than the last common ancestor of birds and other theropods. It probably occurred before the extinction event, but not by a huge amount. Far more recent than 195 MYA. Essentially, all birds appear to be more closely related to each other than to any other dinosaur, they are a "monophyletic" group. There's no suggestion that, say, chickens could have evolved from T. rexes and ostriches evolved from some other theropod :)
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