Jurassic Kratts

How To Build A Dinosaur

Leaving the Brachiosaurus fields behind, the four jeeps continued driving until they reached their true destination; a large, concrete building in the center of a large clearing  overlooking a shallow pond lined by palm trees. The building itself was impressive; sporting many fossil carvings along its base, massive glass windows, and covered by a roof made from fine straw. This was the Visitors Center. But nothing could prepare the visitors, scientist and creature adventurer alike, for what was inside.
   The doors parted, revealing a vast circular lobby with two mounted dinosaur skeletons depicting a Tyrannosaurus attacking a hapless sauropod. Above the fossils hung a black banner with red lettering that said: When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth. 
  "Whoa..." said the Kratt Brothers.
  "Increible." murmured Aviva.
  "Wicked.." added Jimmy Z.
  " It feels like a museum," stated Koki.
  The scientists were no less impressed with the center's architecture, despite the fact that it wasn't completed yet.
   "The most advanced amusement park in the entire world." announced Mr. Hammond in the lead. "And I'm not just talking about rides, you know? Everybody has rides. No, we have made living biological attractions so astounding, that they'll capture the imaginations of the entire planet. Spared no expense.."
"I'll say," muttered Chris, feasting his eyes on the scenery. "No kidding,"added the Kratt in blue.
  As everyone ascended the closest staircase, Ellie took a glance at the paleontologist. "So what are you thinking?" she asked.
  Alan replied,"We're out of a job."
   "Don't you mean extinct?"asked Malcolm before hearing two thuds behind him. The mathematician looked back to see Martin and Chris fallen backwards down the stairs, unconscious. "What's with them?"
As Koki and Aviva were helping the fallen creature adventurers, the computer whizz sighed ," They're in their 'Extinct Species Trance' again. Imagining adventures that could've been." Everyone else just stared blankly before Dr. Sattler jokingly added, "Well, Alan would go through the same thing sometimes." earning her an unamused look from the said paleontologist. After nearly ten minutes, the Kratts were back on their feet and the tour resumed.
The tourists followed Hammond in what appeared to be a theatre. The scientists took the front row seats, the Wild Kratts team settled in the aisle behind them, while Gennaro sat in the back. "Here he comes. Here I come." Hammond said as he approached the screen where another John Hammond came hobbling in his direction. He then gestures the audience, "Say hello." prompting the scientists to return the hello rather awkwardly, though the Wild Kratts greeted the second Hammond with more enthusiasm.
"Hello John." greeted the entrepreneur on screen, as the real Hammond fumbled through his pockets, looking for his lines. "How did I get here?"
Having finally found his lines, Hammond answered, "Well, let me show you. First, I'll need a drop of blood. Your blood." before jabbing animated John's finger with a needle, causing him to flinch back in pain. "Ouch! John, that hurt!"
"Relax, John. It's all part of the miracle of cloning." At this point, the audience raised their eyebrows in doubt.
As more John Hammonds appeared on the screen, the scientists began to whisper among themselves.
  "Cloning from what? Loy extraction has never recreated an intact DNA strand." murmured Dr. Grant skeptically. "Not without massive sequence gaps." added Ian, just as doubtful.
"Palaeo-DNA from what source? Where do you get 100-million-year-old dinosaur blood?" whispered the paleobotanist before Aviva added, "especially if the half-life of DNA is usually only 521 yea–" until she was cut off by a "Shhh" from the boys.
  Back on the screen, an animated DNA strand materialized from animated Hammond's pricked finger, rapping him on the shoulder, causing the clone to look in it's direction before saying in mild surprise, "Oh, Mr. DNA! Where'd you come from?"
The strand replied, "From your blood. Just one drop of your blood contains billions of strands of DNA, the building blocks of life! A DNA strand, like me, is a blueprint for building a living thing. And sometimes, animals that went extinct (here the bros to fainted again..) millions of years ago, like dinosaurs, left their blueprints behind for us to find. We just had to know where to look.
"A hundred million years ago, there were mosquitoes, just like today. And just like today, they fed on the blood of animals. Even dinosaurs. Sometimes, after biting a dinosaur, the mosquito would land on the branch of a tree and get stuck in the sap.
"After a long time, the sap got hardened and became fossilized, just like a dinosaur bone, preserving the mosquito inside. This fossilized tree sap, which we call "amber," waited millions of years with the mosquito inside until Jurassic Park scientists came along. Using sophisticated techniques, they extract the preserved blood, and bingo! Dino DNA!" The audience was speechless. Why didn't they think about that?
"A full DNA strand contains three billion genetic codes. If we looked at screens like these once a second for eight hours a day, it'd take two years to look at the entire strand! It's that long! And since it's so old, it's full of holes! That's where our geneticists take over! Thinking Machine supercomputers and gene sequencers break down the strand in minutes and virtual reality displays shows our geneticists the gaps in the DNA sequence. Since most animal DNA is 90% identical, we used the complete DNA of a frog... to fill in the holes... and complete the... Codes!
"And now we can make a baby dinosaur."
The end of the presentation found the Wild Kratts team staring blankly at the screen, processing everything they had heard, when, to everyone's surprise, a series of bars came to rest at their laps, and the movie screen was replaced by a large laboratory, alive with scientists and technicians. Gennaro was the first to break the silence.
"This is overwhelming, John. Are these characters auto-erotica?"
"No,no,no we have no animatronics here. Those people are the real miracle workers of Jurassic Park."
"Wait a minute. How do you interrupt the cellular mitosis?" asked a puzzled Koki.
"Can we see the fertilized eggs?"asked Martin and Chris, barely able to contain their excitement.
"I'm sorry. It's kind of a ride."said Hammond. This didn't deter the Wild Kratts team however, as they pushed back the bars and raced to the lab. "Last one there's a rotten crocodile egg!"yelled the Kratt in blue. It didn't take long for the trio of scientists to follow their lead, leaving a bewildered Hammond and Gennaro with few options but to tag along with the excited crowd.
As the scientists and creature adventurers made their way into the lab, they couldn't help but start gazing and sightseeing at all the lights and gadgets while John greeted the nearest scientist, "Good day, Henry."
The Asian scientist, Dr. Henry Wu, looked up from his notepad and replied with a smile, "Good day, sir."
Chris was still looking around when he noticed that his brother's eyes were glued to an artificial nest, full of eggs which resembled those they've seen with flightless birds, like emus or ostriches, a robotic arm gently turning them. Judging by the gentle shaking, they were close to hatching. The Kratt in green then joined Martin in watching the eggs hatch, soon followed by the doctors and the rest of the crew.
"Perfect timing!"said Wu, noticing the sudden activity by the nest. "I hope they hatch before I had to go to the boat."
"Henry, Henry, Henry. Why didn't you tell me? I insist on being here when they're born." replied Hammond cheerfully as he made his way to the nearest egg, now held steady by the robotic arm.
  "Come on, little one. Come on then, come on," coaxed the entrepreneur gently as the little dinosaur struggled to break free from its eggshell. "Very good. Push. Push. Very good. There you are." He then removed a large part of the eggshell to reveal a tiny, newborn dinosaur with a large head for its body size, and amber colored eyes. It then gave a small squeak which would have melted even the coldest hearts.
"Ay, que lindo.." cooed Aviva
"It's so cute." added Koki.
"They imprint on the first creature they come in contact with."said Hammond. "It helps them to trust. I've been present for the birth of every little creature on this island."
"Surely not the ones that are bred in the wild?" the Kratt in green wondered out loud.
"Actually they can't breed in the wild." replied Dr. Wu. "Population control is one of our security precautions. There's no unauthorized breeding in Jurassic Park."
"How do you know they can't breed?"asked Martin, now cradling the baby dinosaur.
"Because all the animals in Jurassic Park are female. We've engineered them that way."
"How do you know they're all female?" asked the pizza eating pilot. "Does somebody go out into the park and pull up the dinosaurs' skirts?"
The geneticist answered, "We control their chromosomes. It's really not that difficult. All vertebrate embryos are inherently female anyway, they just require an extra hormone given at the right developmental stage to make them male. We simply deny them that."
"Deny them that?" asked Dr. Sattler in mild disbelief. Ian chose that moment to butt in.
"John, the kind of control you're attempting simply is... it's not possible. If there is one thing the history of evolution has taught us it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, uh... well, there it is."
"You're implying that a group composed entirely of female animals will... breed?" asked Dr. Wu with a raised eyebrow.
"No. I'm, I'm simply saying that life, uh... finds a way." A moment of silence...at least until everyone heard the Kratt in blue declare,"In that case, I'll call you Amber."
  "Amber?" asked Chris incredulously.
"Yeah. Just look at her eyes. Wanna hold her Dr. Grant?" The paleontologist couldn't resist.
As he was holding Amber, Alan examined her features until he came upon a telltale claw on each of the little dinosaur's toes.
  "What species is it?" he asked in mild horror.
  Dr. Wu looked up from his notepad as he answered, "Amber's a Velociraptor."
  "You bred raptors?"
  The geneticist only nodded.
  The room fell into dead silence. The only sounds that were heard were the humming of the machinery and the baby raptor's chirps. Who would have guessed that one day, cute little Amber would grow up into one of the deadliest killing machines in 75 million years?