In real life.

Let’s bring back

some of the most dangerous creatures

to ever roam the Earth.

What could go wrong?

Right?

In the book and subsequent

movie saga of Jurassic Park,

scientists find DNA from dinosaur blood

preserved inside of a fossilized mosquito.

Then, they clone a whole theme park's-worth

of prehistoric creatures.

And, of course, all hell breaks loose.

What you might not know is that

the story was inspired by real-life events.

In 1982, scientists discovered a 40 million-year-old fly

mummified in amber.

And that's where the non-fiction drama ends

and author Michael Crichton's science fiction begins.

But it's not the only discovery that has raised the question

of whether you could bring dinosaurs back from extinction.

Components of dinosaur blood

were discovered in a fossilized mosquito from the Eocene epoch.

But there wasn't any dinosaur DNA that we could use for cloning.

DNA is a vulnerable thing.

It could be deteriorated by sunlight or water.

So far, the oldest DNA discovered

is one million years old.

So if you want to clone dinosaurs,

you’d need to find DNA at least 66 times older than that.

Instead of waiting on the miraculous discovery of dinosaur DNA,

let’s try something different.

Like genetically reverse-engineering dinosaurs.

You could take an animal that’s alive today

and work backward.

OK, so going back through 66 million years of evolution

wouldn’t be a walk in the park.

Genetically engineering a chicken to have teeth

or a long tail

wouldn’t exactly make it a dinosaur.

“But life, uh, finds a way.”

Now, if your dinosaur creations somehow escaped

your maximum security lab

and began living in the wild,

you should be ready for trouble.

With over 700 different dinosaurs species discovered worldwide,

you'd have to find out which of them

would be the safest to share the planet with

and which ones would pose a serious threat.

And you'd have to figure that out the hard way.

They would breed on their own.

They would be hunted for sport

or for meat.

Maybe even kept as pets.

And then, there would be

a Tyrannosaurus rex on the prowl for you.

No, not specifically you.

Humans in general.

People would spend less time outdoors

out of fear of velociraptor attacks.

Jobs requiring travel would become

infinitely more dangerous.

Do you want to be driving an 18-wheeler

with one of these things running across the highway?

Travel would also be more expensive

because of extra security precautions.

Delays and cancellations would be common

due to the flight patterns of pterodactyls.

And food supply chains would be disrupted,

as cattle and other livestock

would be prime targets for predatory dinosaurs.

These creatures never had mammals to snack on in the past.

Ranches and farms would be like a buffet for them.

Massive herbivores like sauropods

would struggle to meet their dietary needs.

The plants that currently exist

wouldn't be the same as those millions of years ago.

Sauropods wouldn't have teeth, jaws or digestive systems

adapted to eating the grasses that are common today.

Other animals and living things

would need to adapt to the new predators on the block.

Dinosaurs would be the ultimate invasive species.

And their presence could cause extinction events

for some of today's species.

It wouldn't be a bed of roses for the dinosaurs, either.

Unless they were engineered to be adapted

to our modern-day global environments and climate,

they would struggle too.

During the Cretaceous period,

the atmosphere had 14% more oxygen than ours does today.

For dinosaurs, it would feel like they were suddenly living

at a Mount Everest base camp.

If you could bring dinosaurs back,

you’d be facing a major ethical dilemma.

Mother Nature wiped them out.

Reintroducing them for pure entertainment

would be a hard case to win against scientists

pushing for further conservation efforts.

Especially if you’re planning to open

your very own Jurassic Park.

Lots of people would want to enjoy the dinosaurs

in a zoo-like setting.

You could stand to make a lot of money.

So you’d likely have more luck convincing people

if you stick to research purposes.

You could do it to further cloning technology,

or to verify findings and theories based on fossilized remains.

Maybe you'd be better off bringing back

an animal that became extinct because of humans.

But that’s a story

for another WHAT IF.