So you want to clone a dragon?
Before you can clone anything you have to have a copy to work from and because dragons do not yet exist, you’re going to have to bio-engineer one first.
But before you start the biological design process that will result in your dragon, you need to remember this complex living organism does not exist in nature. And we’re just at the very beginning of accurately engineering microorganisms. We’re not yet experienced enough to engineer a reptile though I suspect the genome editing tool CRISPR will get us closer, UBER for cross-species genetic engineering even closer.
You’ll need to decide what traits you want: big or small? Wild or docile? Winged? Then there’s the whole fire-breathing thing.
Nothing in nature breathes fire and fire destroys. Your Dragon Clone will need to be fire resistant.
Living organisms that are fire-resistant don’t exist. The most extreme extremophiles, half-millimeter-long nematodes that live beneath the mines of South Africa, are only heat and pressure tolerant. The most heat-tolerant complex animal known to man, the four-inch long Pompeii worm clings around the smokers of the hydrothermal vents of the Pacific Ocean mountain ranges. It can tolerate hot waters at a temperature of 80°C.
To create a creature that not only breathes fire without damaging itself will take some substantial-bioengineering. Surprisingly though, DNA itself is a natural flame retardant and suppressant. Maybe there are lessons from the Pompeii worm and DNA’s flame retardant abilities that you can use to line the throat and nostrils, coat the tongue of your little bio-engineered dragon.
What about creating a flame? Again, nothing in nature breathes fire.
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