We can’t extract DNA from collagen, at least not Dino DNA. That’s because DNA breaks down too fast and dinosaurs are too old. That’s why this collagen find is so important. We can’t clone a Dino from collagen but we sure can learn a lot. In fact, we can learn more from proteins than we could from DNA anyway.

In June of last year, the Smithsonian reached an agreement with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the skeleton is on loan to the Smithsonian for the next 50 years. At 80 to 85 percent of a full T. rex skeleton, the Wankel T. rex is among the most complete fossils of its kind unearthed, second only to the Chicago Field Museum’s “Sue,” which the Smithsonian tried to acquire in 1997. Beyond these stunning skeletal displays, paleontologists have found some 50 T. rex specimens, since Henry Fairfield Osborn first described the species in 1905. As far as current theories go, the idea that T. rex’s forelimbs are in fact totally useless is growing in popularity, says Sara Burch, a paleontologist at Ohio University. But Burch isn’t convinced and is trying to reconstruct the muscle layout of T. rex’s forelimbs based on the forelimb muscles of its modern relatives and the shape of the bones.

GIFT GUIDES

The mysterious function of T. rex’s short arms has provided an endless source of amusement on the internet. But scientists too have been perplexed by the dichotomy of such a large animal with such tiny, seemingly useless forelimbs. Similar to the initial idea that T. rex used its arms to hold its mate, some have suggested that the arms kept prey in place—a study from 1990 hypothesized that the arms could maneuver at least 400 pounds—or provided lift when the animal stood up on two legs, assuming the animals ever sat on the ground. These results match predictions made from skeletal anatomy, providing the first molecular evidence for the evolutionary relationships of a non-avian dinosaur.” Chris Organ

All seriousness aside, I think the next 10 years are going to be very interesting in the world of dinosaurs. At least there is a sense of hope, a glimmer of light, that promises to answer many many more questions about dinosaurs. Ok, so here’s the-big-idea. Collagen is a protein and proteins are important because they tell us a lot about an organism. The king of reptiles, though mighty and well documented in the fossil record, remains largely a mystery to paleontologists who have yet to understand the creature’s basic lifestyle and biology. We've culled scientific reports to bring you five questions that have yet to be answered: Or, remembering all the warning of Dr. Malcom in the Jurassic Park series, it could just go horribly bad. When he said, “We’re not going to be able to make a dinosaur based on a dinosaur.” he meant we can’t take DNA from a mosquito and even fossils and then ‘make’ a dinosaur.

But wait. There’s more. Horner as revealed that he has already found the gene that ‘turns on’ teeth. Scientists don’t know if T. rex was totally warm blooded or cold blooded, but they think that the giant’s metabolic rate was probably somewhere in between that of crocodiles and birds. A study published last year in PLOS One suggests that cold blooded energetics could not have fueled dinosaurs’ active lifestyles, and thus they probably didn’t regulate their body temperature exclusively by moving into the sun, as modern lizards and crocodiles are known do. If the PLOS One study is true, it is even more likely that newborns had feathers.

As for T. rex babies: Perhaps the young were born with a fluffy feather coat, a common phenomenon in birds, and then lost the majority of their feathers once they reached adulthood. “The bigger you are the harder it is to lose heat,” says Schweitzer. “So, when you’re little, as most critters are when they hatch out, you need insulation or their metabolism would have to be fast enough to maintain body temperature.” Oh, I just thought of something. If that is true, then it also answers a few age-old questions. Like: Chance of an answer: Nil. The only thing that would prove it is a Mesozoic-era recording of the creature.The ominous roar of a T. rex, made familiar by the Jurassic Park movies, is nothing more than the product of a filmmaker’s creative imagination. Scientists look to modern relatives of the T. rex—birds and reptiles—for indications of what the dinosaurs might have sounded like, if they made any vocalizations at all. In reality, their calls may have been more like a shriek or a grumble than a roar. “We can guess that it might have sounded like a crocodile or an ostrich, but definitely not a lion and therefore no roaring or purring,” says Carrano. Finally, In 2011, samples of amber from the Cretaceous era were discovered that contained preserved feathers. This led paleontologist to conclude that “some of the feathers were used for insulation, and not flight.” Collagen is the main component of connective tissue and one of the most abundant proteins in living animals. Horner is actually the real person whom Dr. Alan Grant’s character is based on! He found a fossilized T. rex femur in 2003 in Montana. It was big. So big that it didn’t fit into the helicopter. We have discovered that dinosaur DNA, and all DNA, just breaks down too fast. We’re just not going to be able to do what they did in ‘Jurassic Park.’ We’re not going to be able to make a dinosaur based on a dinosaur.” Horner