Ever since I first saw Jurassic Park, I have had one goal. I want to have a Tyrannosaurus rex as a pet. What once seemed like an impossibility might become a reality within my lifetime. The Adam Smith Institute, a British think tank, has released a new report predicting what life will be like in 2050. According to the report: "Several species of dinosaur will be recreated, making their appearance on Earth for the first time in 66 million years. It will not be done a la Jurassic Park with their DNA extracted from blood-sucking insects preserved in amber. It was always highly dubious that enough of the DNA molecule would survive in this way. Instead dinosaurs will be recreated by back-breeding from flightless birds. Birds are modern-day dinosaurs, but they no longer look like dinosaurs. Deep within their DNA, however, will be information relating to the time when they did, and a combination of selective breeding and gene technology will be used to give them the characteristic features of dinosaurs – the jaws with teeth, the tail, the small forelimbs."
The Institute doubts that these modern dinosaurs will be released into the wild, but will, instead, be kept on reservations. But will these creatures really be dinosaurs, or will they just be animals that look and act like dinosaurs? According to the report: "This is a valid criticism, but it is highly likely that there will not be much difference, and that they will be accepted as real dinosaurs."
