Can we recreate dinosaurs from their DNA? – EarthSky

Can we recreate dinosaurs from their DNA? A paleontologist answers the question. Image via Deb Dowd/ Unsplash.

By William Ausich, Ohio State University

Would it really be possible to get the DNA of dinosaurs and then recreate them? Lucie R., age 5, Atlanta, Georgia

As a paleontologist thats a scientist who studies ancient life Im asked this question all the time. After all, the scientists in Jurassic Park (and later, Jurassic World) used DNA to recreate dozens of dinosaurs: Triceratops, Velociraptor and T. rex. And if you saw any of those movies, you had to wonder: Could real scientists do that today?

DNA which stands for deoxyribonucleic acid is something in every cell of every organism that ever lived on Earth including dinosaurs. Think of DNA as molecules that carry the genetic code, a set of instructions that helps bodies and minds grow and thrive.

Your DNA is different from everyone elses. It determines many of the characteristics that define you, like 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 their organs, blood vessels, nerves, muscle and fat. But a dinosaurs soft parts are long gone. They either decomposed or were eaten by another dinosaur.

Dinosaur fossils are all thats left of those prehistoric animals. Immersed for tens of millions of years in ancient mud, minerals and water, the fossils come from the dinosaurs so-called hard parts its bones, teeth and skull.

We find dinosaur fossils in the ground, in riverbeds and lakes, and on the sides of cliffs and mountains. Every now and then, someone finds one in their backyard. Often, theyre quite near the surface, and usually, theyre embedded in sedimentary rock.

With enough fossils, scientists can build a dinosaur skeleton: what you see when you go to the museum.

But scientists have a big problem when trying to find DNA in dinosaur fossils. DNA molecules eventually decay. Recent studies show DNA deteriorates and ultimately disintegrates after about 7 million years. That sounds like a long time, but the last dinosaur died at the end of the Cretaceous Period. Thats more than 65 million years ago.

Dig up a fossil today, and any dino-DNA within would have long since fallen apart. That means, as far as scientists know, and even using the best technology available today, its not possible to make a dinosaur from its DNA.

Although its 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. Those fragments are less than 2 million years old, well before all of the DNA would decay.

Just for fun, lets imagine that somehow, sometime in the future, researchers came up with fragments of dinosaur DNA. With only fragments, scientists still could not make a complete dinosaur. Instead, they would have to combine the fragments with the DNA of a modern-day animal to create a living organism.

That creature, however, could not be called an actual dinosaur. Rather, it would be a hybrid, a blend of dinosaur and, most likely, a bird or reptile. Think thats a good idea? After all, the scientists in the Jurassic movies tried that. 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.

Bottom line: We cant recreate dinosaurs from their DNA because the DNA no longer exists. DNA disintegrates in about 7 million years, and dinosaurs lived 65 million years ago.

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Can we recreate dinosaurs from their DNA? - EarthSky