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 millions of years ago, like dinosaurs, left their blueprints behind for us to find…”

-Animated DNA Strand, Jurassic Park, 1993

So began the explanation of how a drop of blood extracted from a 100-million-year-old mosquito could be used to create a living-dinosaur theme park in the 1993 Steven Spielberg movie “Jurassic Park” and provide fodder for its multiple sequels. Based on Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel, the premise of the science fiction/action movie is that ancient mosquitos preserved in amber could contain enough DNA for scientists to recreate dinosaurs.

Are Amber Mosquitoes Real?

Yes, more than one mosquito in amber has been found in real life. In fact, researchers from Oregon State University found a mosquito in a piece of amber that is 100 million years old and used it to prove that mosquitoes carried the malaria virus when dinosaurs walked the earth.

What Type of Mosquito Was in the Amber in “Jurassic Park”?

When a mine worker finds a perfect, amber-encased specimen at the beginning of the film… he looks lovingly at it and exclaims, “Que lindo eres!” (You are so pretty!). While the mosquito may be beautiful, there is no way it could ever be used for the purposes of DNA extraction.

The amber-bound mosquito in the original Jurassic Park movie is a toxorhynchites, also known as an elephant mosquito. While it looked great on film, this XL mosquito – the world’s largest – didn’t even consume animal blood at all… let alone the blood of dinosaurs!

The descendants of Jurassic-era elephant mosquitoes still have no need for blood meals. As larvae, they consume the larvae of other mosquitoes – taking in all the proteins and fats they will need for the rest of their lives. As adults they consume a vegan diet of fruit, sap, nectar, and other plant material.

Can Dinosaur DNA Be Extracted from Amber?

In the early 1990s, when the world was first gripped by Jurassic Park fever, scientists believed that it truly might be possible to extract dinosaur DNA from biting insects preserved in amber. Researchers were able to harvest gene fragments from preserved insects, with the assumption that it would be possible to recreate a more complete sequence with the traces they found.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), considering the chaos into which the book and movie version descended, this has not been the case. As research and instruments have progressed, it seems less likely that life can be recreated from available samples. This is due to degradation, contamination, and incomplete DNA information.

Who knows where scientific advances will take us in the coming years though? Although unlikely, after watching a cautionary tale like Jurassic Park, we have learned to be on guard, and to never say never.

Mosquito Season is Right Around the Corner. Be Prepared.

Neither dinosaurs nor Jurassic mosquitoes are likely to become a problem anytime soon, but we have plenty of dangerous, disease-bearing pests right here on Long Island. With warmer weather right around the corner, East End Tick and Mosquito Control® is prepared to eliminate mosquitoes and ensure they don’t return to your East End Long Island property. When you see mosquitoes, give us a call at (631) 287-9700 in the Southampton area, (631) 324-9700 in the East Hampton area, and (631) 765-9700 in the Southold area. You can also contact us online. We look forward to hearing from you!