Can dinosaurs be cloned from fossils?

Have you ever wondered if scientists were able to recreate or clone dinosaurs again today?

This question was posed by William Ausich, professor emeritus of paleontology at The Ohio State University, recently in an article on The Conversation.

Dinosaur DNA is different (Getty Images)

DNA ABCs

DNA, which stands for deoxyribonucleic acid, is found in every cell of every organism that lived or lived on Earth, including dinosaurs.

And you can imagine that your DNA is just the molecules that carry your genetic code, a set of instructions that help bodies and minds grow and thrive.

Of course, your DNA is different from that of others, and it determines many characteristics that define your identity, such as the color of your eyes or whether your hair is fine or curly.

DNA can be found in the "soft parts" of the animal, including its organs, blood vessels, nerves, muscles and fat, but the soft parts of dinosaurs decayed long ago.

Fossils are the remains of the "hard parts" of a dinosaur such as its bones, teeth and skull (Getty Images)

Is DNA present in fossils?

It can be said that dinosaur fossils are all that remains of prehistoric animals.

Fossils are defined as the remains of the "hard parts" of a dinosaur such as its bones, teeth and skull that were preserved for tens of millions of years, immersed in ancient mud, minerals and water.

Most of the dinosaur fossils discovered to this day were in riverbeds, lakes, cliffsides and in mountains, often very close to the surface, embedded in sedimentary rock.

So with enough fossils, scientists can build a dinosaur skeleton in the way you see it when you go to the museum.

The last dinosaur died at the end of the Cretaceous period more than 65 million years ago (Getty Images)

The problem of dinosaurs

Scientists face a major problem when trying to find DNA in dinosaur fossils.

This is because many recent studies have proven that DNA is destroyed and disintegrated after a period of time approximately 7 million years.

This period may seem to you very long, but this idea will fade when you know that the last dinosaur died at the end of the Cretaceous period, that is, more than 65 million years ago.

This means that scientists will never be able to make a dinosaur from its DNA, and that it is not dependent on using the best technologies available today.

And recently, scientists discovered something interesting when they found fossils less than two million years old that contained the DNA of Neanderthals and other ancient mammals such as the woolly mammoth.

This was published in a study in the journal Nature on February 17.

According to current data, obtaining dinosaur DNA is a fantasy (Getty Images)

Imagine for a moment

Let's imagine that somehow, at some point in the future, scientists were able to find bits of dinosaur DNA, and of course with just a few bits, scientists wouldn't be able to make a complete dinosaur.

They will have to combine those parts with the DNA of another animal to form a hybrid organism that does not look like an actual dinosaur, but will be a mixture of a species of dinosaur and a species of bird or reptile.

Do you think this is a good idea?

You can watch "Jurassic" movies to see what might happen there.