Information
Hatchling
Legacy Name: Hatchling
The
Chibi VelosotorOwner:
WeedleAge: 11 years, 8 months, 4 weeks
Born: August 12th, 2012
Adopted: 11 years, 8 months, 4 weeks ago
Adopted: August 12th, 2012
Statistics
- Level: 1
- Strength: 10
- Defense: 10
- Speed: 10
- Health: 10
- HP: 10/10
- Intelligence: 0
- Books Read: 0
- Food Eaten: 0
- Job: Unemployed
The age of dinosaurs has come again.
Feb 12th 2012
Today we finished the first stage of the experiment. So far our scientists have documented every stage of chicken growth, from fertilisation to hatchling, each step chronicled in perfect detail. It is a feat in itself. This information can be applied to every other living animal. We have a perfect blueprint of a chicken with the capacity to provide insight into human developmental defects. Of course, that’s not our goal, but it keeps the funding coming and the drug companies interested. This is not a medical project. We are going to change the world.
Mar 25th 2012
We began with the tail. It looked deceptively easy to overwrite tail development. The vertebrae appear during development as in reptiles, of course. Further proof for the ‘theory’ of bird evolution. But instead of continuing to grow, at a very specific stage of development they are destroyed and the chicken is left without a tail. Development consists of switches, you see. One switch controls tail growth in chickens, and all birds. But what if we could turn that switch off? Or on, as it may be. The vertebrae would continue to grow into a tail. The chicken would hatch.
Sept 14th 2012
Success at last! One gene switched off at the correct time, and we have stopped normal chicken development. Altering the concentration of one master protein during the stage of tail development was enough to stop the signal for tail vertebrae to dissolve. Instead they grow, forming a fully functional tail. Twenty-six vertebrae… The tail of a therapod dinosaur.
Mar 2nd 2013
Many setbacks have occurred during studies on the jaw. Chickens have no teeth, of course. But this, too, can be altered. The main proteins controlling development are known and each was tested, overexpressed and knocked out. We witnessed many alterations to jaw structure, but none fit. We began tested combinations, but nothing worked. I realised then that it was too complicated. Development is a series of building blocks which are put together in different ways to give different forms. These blocks are conserved among species and certainly between birds and their ancestors. More than likely, the change we must make is simple. The switch is there, I know it!
Aug 21st 2013
Eureka! We have found the switch for tooth development. This time it was a result of location! Moving the expression of a regulatory protein to the oral/aboral boundary of the jaw causes the formation of teeth akin to those of developing alligators. Like reptiles, the jaw extends and the beak fails to develop. The gene expression patterns during this modified jaw development have been analysed and compared to that of reptiles using microarrays and real-time PCR. Results were consistent! Another step is overcome. How I long to hatch the eggs! But the rules are clear. We cannot hatch these animals. Not yet.
Jun 10th 2014
We have completed the final design. This morning we hatched a dinosaur from a chicken egg. I have named her Thera. In all ways she resembles a therapod dinosaur from the late cretaceous. Something of a raptor, like the ancestor of birds. The developmental plan is simpler than anyone could ever have imagined. Beginning with a bird genome and a chicken egg, we have brought a species back from extinction. Better still, as a result of gene expression manipulation. Not many realise what this means. It is the true beauty! The ingenuity of the experiment! This animal is not genetically modified, not in the strictest sense! Thus no ethical approval is required! No genes have been changed. Sequencing results will show that Thera’s DNA is identical to that of a regular chicken. In fact, if she mated (with a rooster or with another reverse engineered dinosaur) her offspring would be mere chickens. There is no danger of wild populations, even if she was somehow released. I feel this is my greatest achievement. Nothing can stop this research now. Soon we will see other animals – sabre-tooth tigers, mammoths, dodos, perhaps. Ancestral traits are conserved in the DNA of modern species. Genetics provides the keys to unlock it. This is just the beginning.
Jun 19th 2014
Thera is being raised by laboratory staff. We have determined that she will eat any sort of meat, with a preference for anything raw and bloody. She is an intelligent little animal and often watches the staff as they are working. She seems almost calculating. As far as we know, her growth is progressing normally. There aren't a lot of reference books for early raptor development, after all. She seems to be healthy, and that's the most important thing. No side effects from the experiment have been observed so far. While it is clear she is a reptile, there is something bird-like in the way she sometimes bobs her head...
Jul 25th 2014
Field observations have begun. Thera is housed in an enclosure surrounded by electric fencing. It seems extreme for such a small animal, and one so young, but we know what she will become. Thus far she appears carnivorous, eagerly snapping at anything that moves. Experiments using food rewards indicate that she is more intelligent than any chicken. This result was not unexpected. Development of separate systems is intricately linked. Changing one feature, such as tail or tooth development, is likely to affect parameters we cannot imagine. Thera’s development will continue to be monitored.
Sept 30th 2014
Thera grows daily. In only three months she is more than half my height. The extents of her intelligence and problem solving ability is truly remarkable. Thera posesses both keen sight and a strong sense of smell. Her body is lithe and muscular and a large sickle-shaped claw is found on each limb. Soon she will be fully grown and ready for breeding experiments. We have begun new experiments using different types of prey. So far she prefers animals which pose a challenge to catch. Thera seems to enjoy playing with her food, it seems she gets some thrill from the chase. Unfortunately, no animal survives more than a few minutes and we are unable to make many deductions about which prey she prefers. What is clear is that she is a natural predator. No animal alive today could match her speed, strength and intelligence. She is an extraordinary specimen. The information she has given us so far about dinosaur behaviour is unprecedented.
Nov 12th 2014
Today there was an incident in Thera's enclosure. The imbecile meant to be feeding her failed to restrain her properly before entering the enclosure. Thera slashed him across the thigh with her powerful hindleg. The man will survive but the whole situation has created a legal headache. Luckily he has signed a non-disclosure document and should make a full recovery. Nonetheless, we have been forced to increase security around the enclosure. Thera will now be fed through a small hatch in the cage. I viewed the security camera footage after the attack. Interestingly, Thera did not pounce straight away. She stayed out of sight, circling the man until she found his blind spot. Her hunting behaviour is innately sophisticated and we have now been able to document her behaviour in response to more threatening prey. I suppose the situation is not all bad.
Dec 4th 2014
We have begun a breeding program to confirm that Thera will not be dangerous if released into the wild. An annoying technicality required before we can reveal the results of our experiment to the government. Thera was artificially inseminated using sperm from a rooster. Natural mating is not possible as Thera is now almost two feet tall. This is besides the fact she tends to attack anything that moves! Fertilisation was successful and Thera laid four eggs. Each stage of embryonic development will be carefully observed and recorded.
Dec 5th 2012
The development of each egg has been closely monitored. Surprisingly, I observed tail growth and the presence of teeth at early stages. No change should be passed on! The hatchlings were destroyed. I will do further research into Thera’s DNA. Perhaps there is something I have missed… No one must find out. It will ruin everything.
Jan 12th 2015
Thera is gone. There is a large hole in the fencing of her enclosure. We are still unsure of how she escaped but it is clear her intelligence has surpassed all expectations. Needless to say, I have teams searching for her. Even so, it is unlikely she will be recovered. Thera is a metre high now and a natural predator. I have told no one about the breeding experiment. I can only hope she will be found before she reproduces. Otherwise I may have just unleashed the most deadly force seen on Earth for sixty-five million years. No animal alive today can fight off a raptor. What have I done...
[This story is based on FACT. Right now there are projects around the world focusing on altering chicken development to cause the development of ancestral traits found in their dinosaur ancestors. Chickens have been chosen for initial experiments because their development has been well documented, they are easy to obtain and manipulate and there are a number of genetic tools available. Thus far chicken embryos have been induced to grow teeth and tails and work is continuing on forelimb development. For more information, check out the book How to Build a Dinosaur by palaeontologist Jack Horner.]