Ever heard of Dino-Chicken ? The REAL Jurassic Park plan to re-create a DINOSAUR from a CHICKEN
According to the experts (the real scientist behind the inspiration for Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, Jack Horner, (who definitely did not sit in the corner), there's no way anything more than the shortest strand of DNA could survive 65million years. DNA is a weak molecule which breaks down completely over a period of less than thousands of years. so Jurassic Park could never happen... Boo, but we all know it ends in tears !
The real work to bring back Dinosaurs
However.. a Dino-chicken or Chickenosaur is being attempted by Jack and others like him with Avian Dinosaurs' offspring; the humble & tasty chicken.
The Theory Goes ..
That chickens retain many DNA characteristics of dinosaurs which can be halted or (other dormant DNA) switched on in the embryonic stage of development, thus producing a dinosaur like chicken. Still edible, I reckon. Wait till the Colonel's finest marketing come up with something for that. A Jurassic Burger, that bites Back.. in association with Jurassic Park 8. KFD
Dino-chicken
is actually becoming a reality as palaeo-scientists work out how to turn genes on and off to transform a humble beak (back) into a snout with sprouting teeth, (this apparently is the really hard bit), turn wings back into claws and add vertebrae to the spine to create that iconic dino-tail. He reckons the claw bit is not too tricky,and the tail vertebrae, is do-able, they just need to find exactly the right sequence to add a certain number of sections for that swishy counterbalancing tail. I think they forgot to mention that short of plucking it's feathers and painting on scales, it will still be a chicken, but I'm guessing feathers and skin.. just minor details.. what colour they'll turn out is anyone's guess. In the films they used to be green or grey. They might be blue with stripes like the more recent bold guesses.
It's often cited
that this work has profound implications for genetic work in humans; how to switch on and switch off characteristics, like new backbones, etc but even Jack would admit, the real 'fun' is to re-animate the Dinosaur so we can go WOW and hopefully inspire a new generation of kids into careers in genetics, which as he says himself, is a pretty boring job on a day to day basis.
What are the ethics of producing new hybrid creatures and bringing back extinct species.
We don't really know what the implications are. Bringing back Mammoths in the midst of global warming may seem a bit cruel, when it's likely any potential habitat could be in decline and their dietary requirements may no longer be routinely available, making them extinct again ! What about the existing animals and how it may upset the delicate ecosystem balance which exists now, 10,000 years after Mammoths disappeared ? I heard someone recently mention the idea of doing a similar project to bring back Neanderthals. I'm not sure that's been thought through on any kind of practical or ethical level..
But for near extinct species like Rhino, add Elephants, Tigers and a whole host of small amphibians, (birds - ironically) and plenty of insects & PLANTS in imminent danger of extinction, whose DNA we can preserve, sequence and keep, there may be real merits for DNA re-animation. If we really are experiencing the 6th mass extinction; a man made mass extinction scenario it may well be timely research and help restore a balance of bio-diversity in a world of dwindling species and ever growing competition for resources.
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STOPHmm... dna, thousands of years... maybe some of us will try to live that long, but without having kids at every 50 years, hehe
Chickenosaurus it will be good. He could be food for an entire city. But who gives them food to grow?
Seriously now, playing with genetics could be dangerous at some point. And we barely understand our nature and how we work. How can we predict other creature's behavior or needs?
We can't. And for sure we'll reach a moment like in one of the movies some time, with this playing around.
We are going too far with things that we don't know and not having a chance to control. Then, we cry when bad things happen. But it seems it is a part from our evolution.
And as you said in last part, the implications and how the ecosystem balance will be affected, nobody knows.
We always learned by mistakes. Maybe the ones who will remain after that, will go on with new knowledge and who knows what they'll try to discover then ;-).
thanks for your comment @ilvstranger.. It's true, we've been warned many times about the dangers of interfering with a nature we barely understand. I think genetics is part of our future. understanding how to unlock it's secrets is our next big step. It takes us into an entirely new realm of power and commensurate responsibility. We tamper with GMO's at our peril. We don't know how genes from one organism will impact the environment and while GM wheat may actually be of little consequence if it's just grows a shorter stem or a vitamin enriched kernel, we will by CRISPR.. and we may perish by it's sword like action too. I hope we develop a strong set of ethics around the re-animation of extinct species. If we killed off Tigers or a certain frog, it feels right we should bring them back.. they've been living happily for many year before we acquired chemical pesticides and chainsaws. However, ancient species are a different problem. We know about alien species and the havoc they can wreak. Cane toads & rabbits in Australia. Slipper limpets and crayfish in Europe, the list is endless. Ponder this though. What if it was humanity which decided the the of the Mammoth, much like it's cousin the African elephant today.. For meat then surely, today for trinkets.. Do we have a responsibility to try and bring it back ? I don't think we'll ever know and probably shouldn't. I would like to see a Dino-chicken though. Just because the five year old boy inside me is still a little bit fascinated, awed and scared of Dinosaurs !
You know, i have a saying and keep telling people around me lately. When you want to do good and you don't know how, you maybe make more bad than good. And with the best intention and being the most beautiful and good person on the planet (i hope you take that statement as a good one not offending, its just an ascertainment of what i see in good people doing).
I don't think that we can play around bringing back species and thinking we can make good. That species haven't dissapeared in 1 week or 1 year. It was some time to get there. And the ecosystem it took its step in balancing that or not. And with us trying to make things work again, when already changed in a way, we may unbalance again.
Nature has its own ways to solve things and what we see is not even 2-3% from what it really is.
Its just my pov of things.
As we did with pets... i know its nice and good for US. But for animals? We created so many species of domestic animals just to have fun with them and help US. Not for them. But this is another story. Although it may prove our selfishness.
And also the dangerous species you mentioned (not understanding english at that level ;-)) you know, maybe they were jsut to prevent so much crowd on the ecosystem. You see that water has its own sanitary fish who clean the mess, wild life the same... and we just populated the most space on this planet and with our belief of doing good we kinda unbalance all the life here. For us are no cleaners. And here i'm not speaking with bad thought or intention. It is just a truth.
In my opinion we are th worst being on the planet. We destroy more than we create and make good. Who knows, maybe that is the way it meant to be... then be it. But i think we are the last to choose what is good or bad.
And now the fun part at the end, hahahaa i would love to see that Dyno Chicken... but i can't run, with my bad knee and walking with a crane and i think i will wait for him to come ;-)
Also, i can't kill animals and think will never can. So... i would play with him for sure, if possible.
It is still a kid here too and hope will be till the end.
Love the chatting here and hope you too.