You’d think the “Jurassic Park” movies were cautionary tales, because, you know, tons of people died.
But paleontologist Jack Horner, who served as a consultant on the film series, thinks it’s only a matter of time before science brings dinosaurs back for real — and he can’t wait.
“It’s a terrific concept, right? I don’t care how we make a dino-chicken, or how we bring back dinosaurs, I don’t care who does it, I just want to see it done. So if a group at Harvard or Yale can do it, that would be fantastic,” Horner told Popular Science.
Horner imagines a future where genetically modified dinosaurs live in our homes, just like our cats and dogs do today. While real dinosaurs wouldn’t even fit under our roofs, Horner believes smaller versions could ultimately be domesticated.
“For hundreds of thousands of years we’ve been breeding animals,” he said. “We started with wolves and we ended up with Chihuahuas. We modify cows, horses, cats and dogs; all sorts of things. Maybe we’d have dinosaurs as pets.”
Though Horner’s vision may sound crazy, groups of researchers across the science world are working to make it a reality. In 2015, scientists at Yale successfully hatched chicken embryos with velociraptor beaks.
