With the world's population
growing every year,
we need to find ways
to produce more food.
So, if we could bring
dinosaurs back from the dead,
would you eat them?
We're sparing no expense.
Things are becoming Jurassic.
Dinosaurs haven't walked on Earth for
65 million years.
But, if we managed to bring them back,
could we raise them for food
and eat their meat?
Just like the movie Jurassic Park,
we could possibly bring back dinosaurs.
Do you know that
But, unlike in the movies,
it wouldn't be easy to bring dinos back.
We would need to have some
dino DNA that
hasn't deteriorated.
And unfortunately,
that isn't easy to come by.
But let's say we did stumble upon
some suitable dinosaur DNA.
What would be the next steps?
Well, scientists have been trying
to resurrect woolly mammoths
by sequencing their DNA
from a frozen specimen.
Then, they synthesized its genes
and placed them into an
Asian elephant embryo,
as 99% of their genomes are similar.
We could do the same thing
to bring back dinosaurs,
but we'd use a chicken egg instead.
Then, we'd leave it under a heater and
see if a dinosaur hatches.
If it were a dinosaur,
we'd treat it just like
other farm animals we raise.
And we'd need to feed that
hungry dinosaur baby.
So, how much would a
dinosaur need to eat?
Well, if you've watched Jurassic Park,
you know that
dinosaurs come in a range
of shapes and sizes.
So it depends on
what the dinosaur's diet is.
For instance,
herbivores like the Brachiosaurus,
could weigh 4 kg (8 lb) at birth.
And within a few months,
they could easily weigh 10 times more.
Once it becomes an adult,
this plant-eating giant
That's about the same as
120 head of cattle.
And it would need to eat
400 kg (880 lb)
of food per day.
That's how much 16
dairy cows eat in a day.
But let's not forget
how much meat that dinosaur
would give you.
You'd have quite a feast.
And speaking of meat,
which dinosaur
do you think would taste best?
Well, it's hard to know,
because no one alive today has
ever tried dinosaur meat.
But if we compare it
to the meats we enjoy,
the most delicious
tend to be from herbivores,
the plant-eating animals.
Like our Brachiosaurus.
So, something like the infamous T. rex
might taste a little different.
We know that dinosaurs are distant
relatives of birds.
And fast-moving dinosaurs would
mainly consist of white meat.
So, a T. rex
might taste like
an ostrich.
Maybe you'd prefer to eat seafood?
Well, in that case,
you might want to try
eating dinosaurs that
had marine diets.
They might have a fishier flavor.
And here's one thing you
probably hadn't even thought of.
Recent studies have shown that
some dinosaurs, like T. rex,
had feathers.
So if we did raise them for food,
imagine plucking a dinosaur that big.
One Tyrannosaur fossil
had feathers that measured an incredible
1 m (39 in) long.
So, it would be a little different than
plucking a chicken.
But before we get too carried away,
we'd better say that bringing back dinosaurs
is not very likely.
And, if we were to do it,
there would be other consequences.
And maybe some that
we couldn't handle.
Just like in Jurassic Park,
things could get out of hand pretty quickly.
But, if you think about it,
we're already eating dinosaurs.
Or at least their very distant relative,
the chicken.
They might be smaller,
but they sure taste good.
Now, have you ever thought about
what it would be like
if you lost your sense of taste?
That's a horrible thought
and that's also a story for another What If.