Horner is a proponent of a somewhat controversial project that aims to reverse evolve a dinosaur from a chicken. While the concept might sound more Jurassic Park than hard core science, the concept is not that extreme.
According to Horner, the earth's closest living relative to dinosaurs is the humble chicken. What Horner and his team hope to do is to “awaken” genes that have become dormant in the chicken thereby producing a chickenosaurus that would have a tail, hands and possibly teeth. The project is still in early stages, so don’t expect to see any chickenosaurus hatchlings any time soon.
Horner is currently the Curator of Palaeontology for the Museum of the Rockies, the Regent’s professor of palaeontology and teaches the honours program at the Montana State University. He was also the scientific advisor on the Steven Spielberg film, Jurassic Park.
