[extropy-chat] Re: Betting on Dinosaurs

[ben]

Eugen Leitl wrote:

 > Ben wrote:
 >> Hatch an egg?
 >>
 >> This made me smile.
 >>
 >> Which currently existing animal is going to lay a T-Rex egg?

 > Crocodile, ostrich, some interim step between those and a dinosaur.
 > It's going to take several steps.

 >> Any suggestions?
 >>
 >> (i think we can rule out chickens, turkeys, ducks and pigeons)

 > Why?

Well, i may be wrong about just how big a T-Rex egg would be, but i 
doubt if any of those birds would be capable of laying one!

Assuming that's how it would work, of course.

David wrote:

 > A quick google couldn't get an exact size, but a lot of general
 > comments about dinosaur eggs being small for the size of the adults.
 > If an ostrich egg isn't large enough, they will have to make an
 > artificial egg.

This leads me to wonder about the whole thing. something that lays a 
shelled egg is probably a completely different kettle of, er, fish to 
produce than, say, a mammal (or a fish).

 > compared to the rest of the problems I think putting the contents
 > of a current egg in a tank and adding a lot of extra yolk and/or
 > egg white would be fairly easy. If they go that route, I think a
 > crocodile egg may be a good base to start on, they haven't changed
 > much in long enough that they practically are dinosaurs.

Yeah, you might well have to do something like this.

Crocodiles pre-date dinosaurs, though, and they are not closely related, 
despite their looks. I think birds are closer.
This might not be a bar on using them, though. Although the fact that 
crocodiles lay leathery eggs, and afaik, T-Rex laid hard-shelled eggs 
(not sure about this, though) might introduce complications.

I think there's probably a long way to go before we see dinosaurs 
walking around. Lots of other things, like Thylacenes,  Woolly Mammoths, 
Woolly Rhinos, etc., first.

ben