PREHISTORIC MOBY DICK

A couple days ago, I discovered something fascinating. We often think that Megalodon was the most terrifying sea monster in the Miocene oceans. However, it turns out that Megalodon had an arch nemesis that was as big and ferocious as it was. That creature was a close cousin of the sperm whale known as Livyatan Melvillei. It was named after the biblical sea monster Leviathan and Herman Melville the author of Moby Dick. This beast had teeth bigger than Megalodon’s and was an apex predator that attacked and ate everything in the ocean including the occasional Megalodon. I have seen videos of whales outsmarting and killing sharks. Due to this, this creature would have Megalodon’s size and power, but would be much smarter. If you heard whales sing, then imagine how this thing would sound in the water. I can imagine it being louder and deeper than any modern whale call, which would be far more ominous and haunting. I am thinking of writing a book about this whale in the future once my schedule opens up. I am aiming to make this creature the modern Moby Dick!

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CASSOWARY

Out of the many birds out there, I think the most interesting candidate for a reverse engineering project would be the cassowary. The reason for this is because the cassowary is already VERY dinosaur-like in appearance. One look at its eyes and you see the eyes of a dinosaur. Also, the cassowary has powerful scaly legs and feet tipped with sickle-shaped claws like a raptor. Just like a raptor, when the cassowary is provoked it delivers strong kicks that have enough force to kill. In addition to those kicks, the cassowary’s claws are sharp enough to gut a grown human, which is something a Velociraptor would do. Cassowaries can run up to 30 miles per hour and jump six feet in the air. All of these traits combined make the cassowary one of the most dangerous birds in the world. Their diet consists of fruit, mice, lizards, frogs, and carrion, all of which makes them omnivores. Imagine how this animal would look if it was retro-engineered back into a true dinosaur. I will keep this in mind as I brainstorm.

MANIRAPTORA

Based on the information of the retro-engineering project, scientists won’t be able to bring back dinosaurs such as Brachiosaurus, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus Rex, or Stegosaurus. Instead, they can recreate dinosaurs from the Maniraptora family, which were feathered dinosaurs such as Archaeopteryx, Raptors, Ostrich dinosaurs like Gallimimus and Oviraptor, and Therizinosaurus. Once they complete the project and work the bugs out, we will be seeing “modern” versions of these animals. I will keep this in mind in the future as I brainstorm.

REVERSE ENGINEERING DINOSAURS DOCUMENTARY

For those of you who are skeptical of the idea of bringing dinosaurs back, please feel free to check out this documentary from the Discovery Channel, which is how I discovered the project.

DINOSAUR THEME PARK STORY

I have always been a fanatic of dinosaurs since the day I was born. As I mentioned in my previous post, there are real-life projects taking place that could potentially lead to a real-life dinosaur theme park. With this in mind, I will be paying very close attention to the progress of these projects in order to draw inspiration for my own story of a dinosaur theme park. I am thinking of making it a children’s story about a boy visiting this theme park with his grandfather while attempting to connect with his father. However, since Jurassic Park has been THE dinosaur theme park story for the 25 years, I will need to be VERY careful to not make it too similar. With this in mind, I will be keeping the story based on realism from the two real-life projects that are taking place.

In Jurassic Park, the dinosaurs were cloned by using frog DNA to fill in the gene sequence gaps or combined the DNA of various animals in order to create abominable monsters. The dinosaurs were either grown in vats or from eggs that came from who knows where. In my story idea, I will be using the concept of retro-engineering birds back into dinosaur-like creatures and the natural breeding of Ice Age animals using preserved DNA. These creatures will look nothing like the dinosaurs and megafauna that existed in the past. Instead, they will be colorful, exotic, and down-right bizarre. The “dinosaurs” will be dinosaur-like, but they will still retain traits of the modern birds they were made from. The megafauna will also be mixtures between prehistoric megafauna and their modern descendants. Overall, one could argue that these creatures will be the so-called “modern” manmade dinosaurs and megafauna.

For the moment, I still have five more projects to finish before I tackle this one, which will give me plenty of time to brainstorm ways for the story to be something new. I will keep you updated on any further developments. Wish me luck!

REAL-LIFE JURASSIC PARK

Years ago, I became aware of two distinct projects to recreate prehistoric creatures. It has been confirmed that it is not possible to find preserved dinosaur DNA in fossils, but there is PLENTY of dinosaur DNA in modern birds since they are their descendants. Over millions of years of evolution, the classical physical traits of dinosaurs were suppressed in birds. However, scientists have found a way to awaken those physical traits in bird embryos before they hatch. Once they work the bugs out of the system, they could create “modern” dinosaurs and they are starting with the chicken.

After successfully retro-engineering chicken embryos, they will look more like dinosaurs than birds. All of the inherent physical traits are in the chicken’s DNA, but they just need to be woken up. For example, they would develop long tails, hands instead of wings, teeth instead of beaks, and scales instead of feathers. Once they are done with chickens, scientists will be turning their attention to emus and ostriches. Then with a few more years of development, we would be seeing larger modern dinosaurs.

In addition to retro-engineering birds back into dinosaurs, scientists are also in the process of cloning the Ice Age megafauna such as the woolly mammoth. Compared to dinosaur DNA, megafauna DNA has been preserved in frozen specimens. They plan to use this DNA to impregnate modern elephants, which will give birth to elephant/mammoth hybrids. With enough hybrids, they would interbreed them in order to breed more pure-blooded mammoths. If luck remains on their side, scientists can find more preserved megafauna DNA and repeat this process with other animals. For example, they could clone the saber-toothed cat through lions, short-faced bears through grizzly bears, woolly rhinos through modern rhinos, and Megalania through Komodo dragons.

With all of this in mind, all of these projects have the makings of a real-life Jurassic Park. This would be a theme park I would go to. I can even envision a thirty-foot statue dedicated to Michael Crighton, who was the original visionary of bringing prehistoric life forms back to life, positioned at the front gate of the park. In addition to the Jurassic Park films and books, this park will be part of his ultimate legacy. The reason for this is because Michael Crighton ignited our imagination of what is scientifically possible.

DINOSAUR-LIKE ANIMALS

I decided that in addition to the war that will decide the fate of the Empire of Gradaia, I will be exploring Gradaia’s wildlife as well while writing my second fantasy book. For instance, I am thinking of creating a theropod dinosaur that has a combination of features from other theropods. For example, I could give this creature Carnotaurus’s body, size, and hide, Velociraptor’s arms and hands, Tyrannosaurus’s head, Ceratosaurus’s horns, Carcharodontosaurus’s teeth, and the feathers of various other theropods. I can imagine these beasts terrorizing villages and eating human and livestock alike. At times, I can see them scavenging corpses on a battlefield.

With herbivores, I am thinking of combining features of other plant-eating dinosaurs. For example, I could give it Triceratops’s face only without the horns, Iguanadon’s size and front legs, and a Hadrosaur’s body. I can picture these beasts roaming in herds through the fields and plains of Gradaia, grazing on trees and grass. I can also picture them being hunted by humans and predators alike.

With pterosaurs, I am thinking of combining the size and head of Pteranodon, the tail of Rhamphorhynchus, and the large head crest of Tapejara. I can see these creatures as either large sea birds or oversized vultures that feast on carcasses.

Overall, this will give me a chance to shake off some of the cobwebs on my knowledge of dinosaurs.