Dino-chicken By: Will, John, Nicole and Nick

Back in the day… Mesozoic era Dinosaurs were dominant life forms on planet Earth Divided into two categories

Ornischian Bird hipped dinosaurs

Saurishian Lizard hipped dinosaurs

First I was like… Therapod dinosaurs were bi-pedal carnivores Ranged in size from three feet long to over forty Only branch of dinosaurs to survive the KT extinction

But then I was like…! Birds are the closest living relatives of therapod dinosaurs All evolved wings over 65 million years But all birds still share anatomical similarities with them

This is a chicken when it is still a developing embryo Notice the long tail and exaggerated features As an embryo chickens still have long tails, long clawed arms and legs, and even teeth

There's no going back….or is there? Scientists think they can genetically alter chickens back into dinosaurs By somehow overpowering the recessive traits that control the chickens growth, vestigial traits can be left to develop

Let there be DINO- CHICKENS!! If these vestigial traits develop fully, chickens will be born resembling therapod dinosaurs How awesome is that?

But how does this work? The science is called Evolutionary Development Biology Retinoic acid and tungsten wire used to try and promote tail growth  Injecting chicken embryo at different points + times to affect development

Fossil cloning Scientists have always pondered the idea of cloning dinosaurs through fossils But there are several problems with this… Fossilization usually destroys all organic matter

But wait! What about that one time!? In 2005 a fossilized phemur of a Tyrannosaurus containing “soft matter” was discovered in eastern Montana The soft matter was hypothesized to be intact bone-marrow Turned out to be too damaged to work with.. 

Aww man… O well, but if the bone marrow was intact the scientists could use it They would most likely 1.Take the nucleus out of a birds egg 2.Insert the nucleus of the T-rex’s bone marrow cell 3.Insert the egg into a lucky lady chicken

Is it ethical? There is some debate as to if this experiment is ethical or not Ethics aside, Dino-chicken is not far off

The End