By William Ausich, Ohio State University
Would it really be possible to get the DNA from the dinosaurs and then recreate them? – Lucie R., 5, Atlanta, Georgia
As a paleontologist, who is a scientist who studies ancient life, I am asked this question all the time. After all, “Jurassic Park” (and later, “Jurassic World”) scientists used DNA to recreate dozens of dinosaurs: Triceratops, Velociraptor i T. rex. And if you saw any of these movies, you had to ask yourself: could real scientists do that today?
The ABCs of DNA
DNA, which means deoxyribonucleic acid, is something in every cell of every organism that has ever lived on Earth, including dinosaurs. Think of DNA as molecules that carry the genetic code, a set of instructions that help bodies and minds grow and thrive.
Your DNA is different from everyone else’s. Determine many of the characteristics that define you, such as the color of your eyes or whether your hair is straight or curly.
DNA is much easier to find in the soft parts of an animal: its organs, blood vessels, nerves, muscle and fat. But the soft parts of a dinosaur are gone. Either they broke down or another dinosaur ate them.
Does dino DNA still exist?
Dinosaur fossils are all that remains of these prehistoric animals. Immersed for tens of millions of years in ancient mud, minerals and water, the fossils come from the so-called dinosaur hard parts – your bones, teeth and skull.
We find dinosaur fossils on land, in river beds and lakes and on the sides of cliffs and mountains. From time to time, someone finds one in the back garden. They are often quite close to the surface and are usually embedded in sedimentary rock.
With enough fossils, scientists can build a dinosaur skeleton – the one you see when you go to the museum.
Recreate dinosaurs from your DNA?
But scientists have a big problem when they try to find DNA in dinosaur fossils. DNA molecules end up decaying. Recent studies show that DNA deteriorates and disintegrates after about 7 million years. It seems like a long time, but the last dinosaur died at the end of the Cretaceous period. This is over 65 million years ago.
Unearthing a fossil today, and any dino-DNA that has been there for a long time would have collapsed. This means that, as far as scientists know, and even with the best technology available today, it is not possible to make a dinosaur from its DNA.
While it’s too late to find dino-DNA, scientists recently found something almost as intriguing. They discovered DNA fragments in the fossils of Neanderthals and other ancient mammals, such as woolly mammoths.
Now that makes sense. These fragments are less than 2 million years old, long before all of the DNA decays.
Imagine for a second you were transposed into the karmic driven world of Earl.
Just for fun, let’s imagine that somehow, at some point in the future, researchers found fragments of dinosaur DNA. With only fragments, scientists still could not make a complete dinosaur. Instead, they should combine the fragments with the DNA of a current animal to create a living organism.
This creature, however, could not be called a real dinosaur. Instead, it would be a hybrid, a mixture of dinosaurs, and most likely a bird or a reptile. Do you think it’s a good idea? After all, the scientists in the “Jurassic” movies tried it. And you know what happened there.
William Ausich, Professor Emeritus of Paleontology, Ohio State University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Summary: We cannot recreate dinosaurs from their DNA because DNA no longer exists. DNA disintegrates in about 7 million years and dinosaurs lived 65 million years ago.
