Could scientists bring dinosaurs back to life?

Dinosaurs went extinct about 65-66 million years ago, after living for about 165

million years. But not a single trace of dinosaurs remains has been found in rocks

younger than about 66 million years. Paleontologists have spent years piecing together

what happened, and suggestions for what killed the dinosaurs and the rest of the

planet's Cretaceous occupants have ranged from plausible to outlandish. For the time

being, the scientific world is split between two competing theories: were dinosaurs’

victims of interplanetary aggression or were they victims of more Earthly calamities?

Scientists and researchers believe that using animals that are closely related to

dinosaurs like chickens and other birds could possibly bring back some species of

dinosaurs. They started to work on mutating them so they can be more like dinosaurs

through some genetic changes.

Experts state that we are of long way from being able to reconstruct the DNA of

some extinct creatures or could also be impossible for us to resurrect those life forms.

DNA is much easier to find in soft parts of an animal such as organs, blood vessels,

nerves, muscle and fats but those parts of the dinosaurs are obviously long gone.

A genome is the complete set of DNA of a living thing. Without the full genome, it

would be impossible to tell which parts of the DNA have been found and therefore

impossible to fill the gaps to build a whole animal.

 Scientists are having a big problem when trying to find DNA in dinosaur’s fossils.

DNA molecules decay. Currently the oldest DNA to have been found is around one

million years old, although it is possibly younger. DNA 66 times older would have to be

found to get to the age of dinosaurs. But still, they are attempting to bring other extinct

animals back to life such as woolly mammoths.

So, it appears that cloning dinosaurs is no longer an option, but reverse-

engineering the ancient beasts could be a viable alternative. Starting with a living

species and moving backwards to prehistoric reptiles, researchers hope to undo at least

66 million years of evolution. For example, a chicken can be genetically engineered so it

has teeth or a long tail that could be likely similar to dinosaurs. It is said that chickens

and ostriches are the closest relatives of Tyrannosaurus rex.

Bringing back an extinct animal can offer important scientific knowledge, also

cloning can be a huge step in genetic engineering. According to scientists, it would be of

great advantage if extinct animals would be brought back to life, and restore the

ecosystem. However, there are still disadvantages that will come up when this

experiment will be successful. Illegal trafficking and killing of wildlife, poaching, will

definitely happen and can also be of increased number of cases. If bringing dinosaurs

back to life become successful, we cannot assure if they can adopt to our current

environment. De-extinction of species raises a lot of concerns regarding the

conservation of today’s endangered species.