I’m not really certain that bringing back a dinosaur would be a great use of either science or money.

We all know about dinosaurs, don’t we? Except, of course we don’t, really. I remember reading about a time, in the not too distant past, when scientists realised that a particular part of a particular dinosaur was not a horn but a thumb – or it could have been vice versa. Since no one was around to see what went on in the time of dinosaurs, how could we know the outcome of bringing just one of them back?

I would far rather spend my time and money working to stop the decline in populations of elephants or blackbirds or butterflies. And, what about bees? We need bees to pollinate our food crops, and also need them in our gardens so we can watch them busily flying from flower to flower – our stopping what we’re doing to watch the bees (and the dragonflies and the butterflies and the ladybirds) is a useful pastime for Homo sapiens in that we can relax, forget about our worries and be a part of nature for a little while.

And then, there are the oceans with their populations of fish, reptiles, amphibians and mammals. We (homo sapiens again) have spent many long periods of time treating the sea and its creatures as a food store and a dustbin, to the point where some fish aren’t allowed to be caught by fishermen – and if you catch one by mistake and in catching it, it dies, you have to throw it back! I’d certainly rather spend my resources on making the sea as clean and habitable as it must once have been!

And again – another example of our caring and loving use of the world around us – have you noticed how few insects your car is catching in your headlights at night as you race down a country lane?

Some day – wayyyyyyy in the future, there might be a being who sets a writing prompt for a group of other beings which sounds rather familiar, but not quite: if you could bring back one mammal (or reptile, amphibian, bird, insect) which would it be?