Chicken and T Rex. Cousins?

[Flatlander]

Perhaps.

T. rex was no chicken.
But scientists say soft tissue recovered from inside the leg bone of a 68-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex most closely resembles that of a modern hen.

Full Story.

 

[dturtleman]

greeat; now chickens are going to get a big head. what if they decide to revolt?

 

[Jade Tigress]

Hmmm....wonder if it tastes like chicken?

 

[arnisador]

Fascinating research...it's wonderful and amazing that they could extract the proteins after all this time!

 

[Drac]

Col Sanders would faint...

 

[mrhnau]

Fascinating research...it's wonderful and amazing that they could extract the proteins after all this time!

It really is! Makes you wonder... exactly how far fetched is Jurassic Park? If they ever can successfully sequence a dino-genome, you never know!

Hmmm....wonder if it tastes like chicken?

Yes!

The discovery also bolsters the theory that birds descended from dinosaurs, and suggests that a T. rex drumstick might have tasted like chicken.

hehehe

 

[exile]

Col Sanders would faint...

Roger Zelazny many years ago wrote a sequence of science-fanatasy novels called the Amber series, of which I remember very little, but one episode that does stick out involves one of the members of this powerful magical family who have the ability to wander through alternative worlds—worlds that represent different choices and so on from those made in `our' world—and in one of these alternative worlds, there is a chain of fast food places selling `Kentucky Fried Lizard Partes [his spelling]'. So you can't say the Col. wasn't put on notice a while back, eh? :wink1:

 

[arnisador]

I was a big fan of Amber (the first quintology)! Well, birds are our dinosaurs...makes you look at the ostrich in a whole new light!

 

[exile]

I was a big fan of Amber (the first quintology)! Well, birds are our dinosaurs...makes you look at the ostrich in a whole new light!

Aha, another Amber fan!—I had a special fondness for Benedict... it did get a bit baroque as the series went on, but I kind of liked the final resolution... yes, that weird looking big-billed bird is can legitimately claim the mantle of its fearsome ancestor.

There was apparently a large flightless African[?] bird some millions of years ago—BIG, stood something like 11 feet tall—don't remember its Linnean monkiker, but it was a ferocious predator. Unlike rheas, moas and ostriches, it was not only big, but it had a raptor's beak and preyed on middle-to-largish herbivorous mammals... scary thing, it was... that would make you think twice about the relationship between birds and predatory dinosaurs...

 

[Touch Of Death]

It really is! Makes you wonder... exactly how far fetched is Jurassic Park? If they ever can successfully sequence a dino-genome, you never know!


Yes!


hehehe

Never happen in a million years, my Biology teacher used to say. We can manipulate sperm, but that is only half the equation. We got no eggs to fertilize; so, we do know.
sean

 

[Touch Of Death]

Speaking of Dinosaurs, I saw a documentary stating that a Giant Lizard existed in Australia right along with the Aboriginie (sp) people. Scientists believe they were so terrified of this creature that the natives actually burned the entire Continent to do eradicate it. They also believe many of Australia's Rainforrests are a direct result of this clearing of existing plant life.
Sean

 

[mrhnau]

Never happen in a million years, my Biology teacher used to say. We can manipulate Sperm, but that is only half the equation. We got no eggs to fertilize; so, we do know.
sean

Think that won't be overcome in a few dozen years? We could perhaps use a close approximation for the egg... current cloning technology could do a pretty good job me thinks

 

[Touch Of Death]

Think that won't be overcome in a few dozen years? We could perhaps use a close approximation for the egg... current cloning technology could do a pretty good job me thinks

You need an egg to clone an egg. LOL
Sean

 

[mrhnau]

You need an egg to clone an egg. LOL
Sean

yes, but why not an analogous egg? Its not the egg itself thats all that important, but the genetic material it contains. With current cloning technology, you eradicate the eggs original genetic material and insert a new genetic material. Why not try an egg of some close relative?

 

[Touch Of Death]

yes, but why not an analogous egg? Its not the egg itself thats all that important, but the genetic material it contains. With current cloning technology, you eradicate the eggs original genetic material and insert a new genetic material. Why not try an egg of some close relative?

According to my old biology teacher, the egg is far more important than housing genetic material. Sperm is cheap, eggs are priceless. Maybe we can get a cross breed to live for a while, but we aren't going to get what we want. Unless that is what we want.
Sean

 

[mrhnau]

According to my old biology teacher, the egg is far more important than housing genetic material. Sperm is cheap, eggs are priceless. Maybe we can get a cross breed to live for a while, but we aren't going to get what we want. Unless that is what we want.
Sean

well, its already being considered. Groups are working on a few extinct species, and have already created genetic stores of DNA... For instance, they are working on the Tasmanian Tiger and Wolly Mamoth. Part of the problem they are having is finding DNA well enough preserved.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloning

One of the continuing obstacles in the attempt to clone extinct species is the need for nearly perfect DNA. Cloning from a single specimen could not create a viable breeding population in sexually reproducing animals. Furthermore, even if males and females were cloned, the question would remain open if they would be viable at all in the absence of parents that could teach or show them natural behavior. Essentially, if cloning an extinct species succeeded — it must be considered that cloning still is an experimental technology that succeeds only by chance — it is far more likely than not that any resulting animals, even if they were healthy, would be little more than curios or museum pieces.

I think we will get there, given enough time...

 

[Steel Tiger]

Speaking of Dinosaurs, I saw a documentary stating that a Giant Lizard existed in Australia right along with the Aboriginie (sp) people. Scientists believe they were so terrified of this creature that the natives actually burned the entire Continent to do eradicate it. They also believe many of Australia's Rainforrests are a direct result of this clearing of existing plant life.
Sean

Yeah there two big reptilian nasties around when the Aborigines came to Australia. The lizard you mention, a monitor by general type, was about 5-6m (16 -20 feet) long. The other was the fearsome LAND CROCODILE!!!
This beast was similar is size to modern saltwater crocodiles but was more adapted to terrestrial activity. It was a time of megafauna, 3m tall kangaroos (possibly carnivorous), giant possums, the size of lions (Thylacaleo Rex). Pretty damn scary I bet.

 

[Steel Tiger]

Aha, another Amber fan!—I had a special fondness for Benedict... it did get a bit baroque as the series went on, but I kind of liked the final resolution... yes, that weird looking big-billed bird is can legitimately claim the mantle of its fearsome ancestor.

There was apparently a large flightless African[?] bird some millions of years ago—BIG, stood something like 11 feet tall—don't remember its Linnean monkiker, but it was a ferocious predator. Unlike rheas, moas and ostriches, it was not only big, but it had a raptor's beak and preyed on middle-to-largish herbivorous mammals... scary thing, it was... that would make you think twice about the relationship between birds and predatory dinosaurs...

There was a period after the dinosaurs perished when the Terror Birds dominated the world. Axe Beaks and other such monstrosities were top of the food chain for maybe 20 million years. Most seem to have been about 3m tall but there are some specimens from South America which suggest a height of 4m.

The sheer dominance by bird forms directly after the period of dinosaur extinctions is also suggestive of a strong link between dinosouars and avians. It may be that we will have to rethink the chronology of when the age of the dinosaurs really ended.