Is it possible to find a frozen dinosaur?

Question

Is it possible to find a frozen complete dinosaur deep in a cold region whose DNA is still fairly well preserved?

manfromearth · Answer

...no, no ice field has survived the ages, and DNA decays even in ice. 65 million years is a really long time. mfe

bratwurstgamer · Answer

Dinosaurs became extinct around 65 million years ago. During all this time, continental drift, cyclical climate changes (warm and ice ages), and other temperature fluctuations thawed and decomposed any frozen dinosaurs. For example, we can only find mammoths in ice sheets, as they only became extinct approximately 10,000 years ago, and the ice from their time still exists today.

pomophilus · Answer

Hello,

As we all know, proving the impossibility of events is virtually impossible – but proof of this claim is still pending.

First of all, I think we're not talking about the birds, the representatives of the dinosaurs that are still alive today according to modern understanding, but rather about the species that became extinct as a result of an asteroid impact at least 65 million years ago. (Many of the known species became extinct long before this impact.)

And I see some obstacles:

I mean, there are hardly any known species of "classic" dinosaurs that lived in permanently frozen landscapes. But that's exactly where such an animal would have died and then been immediately preserved in the ice.
A minimum of 65 million years is a very long time. The planet has changed considerably in that time. Climate changes occurred during this time that caused long-frozen regions to thaw. Continental plates shifted. Regions that are now near the poles and permanently frozen were then located in much warmer, sometimes tropical regions and were not frozen. Therefore, I doubt that there is even a single spot on Earth that has been continuously frozen from then until now. But that's the only place where such a discovery could be made.
DNA is a relatively unstable molecule that degrades over time. Even under optimal storage conditions, it is unlikely to survive for at least 65 million years.

Therefore, I don't have absolute proof. Nevertheless, my answer is no. Even if it's only with a near certainty.

buckykater · Answer

Very unlikely. At the time of the dinosaurs, and indeed throughout their entire existence, it was warmer than today. For example, there was slightly less ice at the poles. On average, it was about 10 degrees Celsius warmer than today.

But even if we could somehow bring dinosaurs back to life or find intact DNA to bring this species back, we couldn't.

Mammoths have already been found completely buried in ice. The meat could even have been used; there were even small amounts of liquid blood, but no truly usable DNA left. More than any dinosaur, but mammoths can't be brought back yet.

And in my opinion, we should protect the species and habitats living today, and invest in them rather than breeding long-extinct species, even if it were possible. And then we should bring back species that have demonstrably been wiped out by humans. For example, the dodo, Steller's sea cow, Thylacine, passenger pigeon, golden toad, Chinese river dolphin, Caspian tiger, aurochs, Carolina parakeet, Marion giant tortoise, great auk, Caribbean monk seal, Cape lion, tarpan, pachylemur, etc. But even these will remain extinct.

matmatmat · Answer

No. I don't know of any area of ​​the planet that has been frozen continuously for the last 60 million years. Even if that were the case, the DNA would unfortunately have already broken down into very small fragments, so no "Jurassic Park," sorry.

noname68 · Answer

Are you thinking of the relatively well-preserved discoveries of frozen mammoth bodies in the Siberian tundra? That's a completely different situation.

Nowhere in the world is there a region that a) was ice-free 65 million years ago and b) is suddenly covered in deep ice this day, possibly preserving a few frozen animals (possibly even dinosaurs).

Mammoths date back to the Ice Age about 10,000 years ago – compare that to 65 million years ago.

rheinflip · Answer

Anyone who paid even a passing attention in school knows the answer. When did the dinosaurs become extinct? What did the Earth look like back then?

profil746382 · Answer

Furthermore, there were no permanent ice caps on the planet during the Late Cretaceous period anyway. If there had been any, they would have been completely melted by the PETM at the latest. The fact that the North and South Poles are covered in ice year-round, as they are today, is not the rule, but rather the exception.

hayns · Answer

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence Quote / Source: If you look for "X" and don't find it, does that prove there is no "X"? No.

angvard802neu · Answer

In theory, one could find a dinomum, but the DNA could not be used to resurrect the species like in Jurassic Park.