And the Geneticists Said, “Let There Be Dinosaurs!”
Story by Carpi on SoFurry
Imported from SF2 with no description.
In the year 2011, ten-year old Owen Grant had attended the TEDTalk “Building a Dinosaur from a Chicken” hosted by paleontologist Jack Horner. Enamored of the idea, he immediately dedicated himself to bringing the man’s vision to life sometime in the future. Twenty-five years later, with doctorate in genetics in hand and working in labs of Greenfield Genetics, Doctor Grant and his team had successfully reverse-engineered and hatched a living Velociraptor from a simple chicken.
Sensing a business opportunity, Greenfield Genetics immediately purchased a large tract of land out in Montana where they set about reconstructing what the land looked like during the Mesozoic. While the results were scientifically useless, they had proven to be extremely attractive to the press and investors. Soon, in 2039, the zoological garden/theme park known as Mesozoic Zoo was opened with much fanfare. In the four years since the first living Velociraptor was hatched, Greenfield Genetics had revived Deinonychus, Utahraptor and other dromaeosaurids using the same model. A Compsognathus was the first non-dromaeosaurid theropod hatched. Indeed, much research was continued on reviving other dinosaur species using the same reverse genetic engineering techniques.
Unfortunately, while the guests were pleased at seeing live dinosaurs, many expressed disappointment that they still acted like domestic chickens. Doctor Grant’s solution to this was to genetically alter their brain to express more predatory behavior. This batch of modified embryos was then hatched and raised in the laboratory. At this point, the scientists began to notice signs that the animals were unusually intelligent, capable of passing the mirror test. This was regarded as a mere curiosity until one of the Velociraptors spoke — in fractured but perfectly understandable English. Further research revealed that this was no mere mimicry — the hatchlings understood the context of the words and how to properly use them. The results of further testing shocked the entire company — these raptors were completely self-aware and sapient. Rather understandably fearful of the public backlash that would arise when the masquerade of these sapient theropods as mere zoo animals was broken, the company immediately decided to close down Mesozoic Zoo. In 2044, Mesozoic Zoo was permanently closed to the public and converted to a closed town named Mesozoica.
There, the scientists sought to teach the theropods basic living skills, how to integrate into Human society as well as conducting research on them. It was then they noticed something strange. Every single one of the sapient theropods (now called Mesozoicans after the town) had some degree of incontinence, ranging from nocturnal incontinence to total incontinence. The scientists tried to find ways to cure it but they found the genes responsible for the nerves that control continence to be closely linked to the genes that control brain development and intelligence. Regardless, some Mesozoicans pressed ahead for gene therapy research and clinical trials. These clinical trials were immediately halted when nearly all the Mesozoicans who had undergone the treatment either died, ended up comatose or brain-damaged. It was then decided that any attempts to cure incontinence in the Mesozoican population was too dangerous.
In 2050, Mesozoica was opened to the public…to much protest and shock. Representatives from Greenfield Genetics, Mesozoica, the United States Government, the state of Montana and even the United Nations met at the United Nations Building in New York City to decide the status of the Mesozoicans. In 2051, after a year of legal, political and religious debates (some quite heated); Mesozoicans were deemed to be equivalent to Humans in all rights and responsibilities. However, some changes had to be made owing to their shorter lifespan. As for Mesozoica, it was deemed to be an administrative city-state like Washington DC.
Greenfield Genetics was no longer allowed to create new species of Mesozoicans but because of the low Mesozoican population, they were allowed to artificially create new Mesozoicans on the condition that they are raised by Mesozoican parents. Conflicts do arise between the two species…mainly on the Human side as people have regarded them as abominations against nature/God or feeling that they should be slaves because they were created by Humans. However, there are Mesozoicans who are overtly anti-Human and regard themselves as better than Humans due to their inherent traits. But overall, Humans and Mesozoicans coexist relatively peacefully.