Back here in the United States, the blockbuster movie Jurassic World still plays in theatres, while presidential candidates hit the campaign trail. This confluence of events reminds me of a crazy idea I had back in 1992, a couple years after Michael Crichton published his novel. This tongue-in-cheek essay explores the idea to its full absurdity.

At that time, medical investigators had removed the late President Zachary Taylor from his crypt to analyze bone, hair, and fingernail samples for signs of poisoning. Meanwhile, The New York Times had reported that, if scientists could find enough dinosaur DNA somewhere, they might be able to recreate one of the beasts. I wondered if the Taylor medical examiners and the DNA scientists could get together to produce an entirely new species of dinosaur. They could call it Zachasaurus. The idea sounds wacky, but it has its merits.

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