# Do you think we could train or tame dinosaurs? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 10, 2025, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140 "2025-02-10T17:31:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/81 "2025-02-12T15:26:52Z")
If it’s anything like ostrich? Delicious! ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/82 "2025-02-12T17:27:43Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I’m wondering what t-rex steaks taste like. A bit gamy but mostly … tastes like chicken! Are there any tasty carnivores? ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/83 "2025-02-12T18:53:45Z")
I can think of at least snakes, lizards and fish, and only the first two taste like chicken. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/84 "2025-02-12T18:59:15Z")
Mahi is a carnivore. Its appearance and texture strongly resemble chicken breast meat. It has a ~~bland~~ mild flavor, and if the cook uses a lot of spices, you could easily imagine that you were eating chicken. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/85 "2025-02-12T20:54:46Z")
Crocodile is decent, though I have only have had it as a steak. I imagine as cerviche it could be quite good. It is jokingly refered as “tastes like chicken” but I’d say a really fishy turkey. Really fishy. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/86 "2025-02-12T22:04:34Z")
I definitely did not think about apex predator fish when I posted that. Haven’t had crocodile but have had alligator. Weird. The first bite tasted good but after that, not? ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/87 "2025-02-12T22:38:06Z")
I say yes. [Crocodiles are the closest living relatives to dinosaurs](https://www.dinosaur-universe.com/dinosaur-information/the-5-closest-living-animals-to-dinosaurs/), notwithstanding the fact that Class Aves are also descendant from dinosaurs. Crocodiles can be trained, [some keep them as pets](https://nypost.com/2023/03/14/my-pet-crocodile-that-acts-like-a-dog-and-sleeps-with-me/), and breeding could make them more docile. Wiki has pics. One of them is below. There are others. > **[Crocodile farm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocodile_farm)** > > A crocodile farm or alligator farm is an establishment for breeding and raising of crocodilians in order to produce crocodile and alligator meat, leather from crocodile and alligator skin, and other goods. Many species of both alligators and crocodiles are farmed internationally. In Louisiana alone, alligator farming is a $60 to $70 million industry. Most crocodile farms are located in Thailand. Around 1.33-1.5 million crocodiles were slaughtered from 2007 to 2010 in crocodile farms. > Alligator... [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Los_Angeles_Alligator_Farm_%28ca._1907%29_02.jpg/1280px-Los_Angeles_Alligator_Farm_%28ca._1907%29_02.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Los_Angeles_Alligator_Farm_%28ca._1907%29_02.jpg/1280px-Los_Angeles_Alligator_Farm_%28ca._1907%29_02.jpg) Admittedly this c. 1900 pic appears to be a cut and paste job, about as convincing as [ectoplasm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ectoplasm_(paranormal)). Still, I say that to the extent that crocs can be tamed and raised in farms, so can dinosaurs. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/88 "2025-02-13T00:08:41Z")
Could be a cut and paste, but a “California Alligator Farm” image search shows quite a few examples of similar tourist/reptile interactions that appear to be “real” like this one: [![](https://kcet.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/559b3bf/2147483647/strip/true/crop/600x315+0+30/resize/1200x630!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fkcet-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fsites%2Fkl%2Ffiles%2Fthumbnails%2Fimage%2Falligator-farm.jpg) ](https://kcet.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/559b3bf/2147483647/strip/true/crop/600x315+0+30/resize/1200x630!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fkcet-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fsites%2Fkl%2Ffiles%2Fthumbnails%2Fimage%2Falligator-farm.jpg) eta: [here’s the video the image came from](https://youtu.be/hCs3O-Ijbec?feature=shared&t=184) ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/89 "2025-02-13T01:01:58Z")
Interesting. Here is the best article I could find on the California Alligator Farm (there were a number of options, including wiki): > **[Sights and Souvenirs from the California Alligator Farm | Atomic Redhead](https://atomicredhead.com/2021/03/10/sights-and-souvenirs-from-the-california-alligator-farm/)** > > As mentioned before I’ve been watching a lot of TV since I’m not going anywhere thanks to COVID, and I recently binged the entire first season of HBO’s new interpretation of Perry… During the 1960s they stopped raising alligator leather, because the market for it had collapsed. The park closed in 1984. They suffered surprisingly few injuries: > Despite seeming immensely dangerous, especially in its early years, the Alligator Farm existed for decades without any cases of harm to visitors, with one exception, and the victim was Francis Earnest Jr., the son of one of the owners. In 1925, at age eight, Junior was playing with a large gator, when it bit his hand, his uncle jumped atop the gator, and gouged its eyes. The son was taken to the hospital with minimal damage, and lived the rest of his life with only a scar on his hand. Two alligator parks remain open in Florida. Both offer a gator zip line for minutes of fun, as well as educational programs: they are billed as conservation organizations of course. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/90 "2025-02-13T01:44:23Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Two alligator parks remain open in Florida. Both offer a gator zip line for minutes of fun, Is that how long it takes the gators to eat you? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/91 "2025-02-13T01:52:34Z")
Train? Sure, to some extent. Tame? Not at all. I think this guy who runs an alligator experience in Florida says it best. The alligator he works with would kill him at any time if it thought it could. The alligator has no love for him and would eat him if he did not handle the alligator appropriately. It is not tame and never will be tame and it has no love for its handler and it will eat him even if fed minutes earlier. I think alligators about as close as we get to dinos that are alive today (don’t start with birds). [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/3nTbQlZsQv0/maxresdefault.jpg "Why isn’t gator attacking you?!?!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nTbQlZsQv0) ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/92 "2025-02-13T04:36:06Z")
Crocodilians diverged from the ancestors of dinosaurs some 250 million years ago, well before dinosaurs began to split into saurischian and ornithischian groups (and, as previously noted, even those two groups are only barely related). Crocodilians are technically the closest living relatives of the dinosaurs but they’ve been on their own path longer than dinosaurs have existed so it’s hard to say that their behaviors would be related. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/93 "2025-02-13T04:53:03Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I definitely did not think about apex predator fish when I posted that. Haven’t had crocodile but have had alligator. Weird. The first bite tasted good but after that, not? I think we don’t generally eat carnivores because that’s more expensive. But in addition to fish (and tuna are delicious) people eat pigs and bears that are happy to eat meat. And ducks that are happy to eat fish, and chickens that are happy to eat bugs. But we mostly eat animals that can use resources that we can’t use (like grass) for economic reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/94 "2025-02-13T05:36:08Z")
Does the OP permit breeding? I think of the [silver fox domestication experiment](https://evolution-outreach.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-018-0090-x) in the Soviet Union, where foxes were bred for docility and ability to be handled by humans. Or the fact that domesticated horses can be traced to only a couple of (docile) male ancestors. Surely crocs and iguanodon could be bred to be passive. I guess there may be limits: I’m not sure hippos, leopards or [spinosauruses](https://www.mydinosaurs.com/blog/top-10-biggest-carnivorous-dinosaurs-ever/) would be good candidates, never mind T-Rex. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/95 "2025-02-13T08:02:43Z")
We definitely need a time machine. Choose me! Choose me! ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/96 "2025-02-13T08:56:49Z")
Ah, I was wondering why my ornithologist girlfriend nicknamed me “ducky.” …er, with regard to your first link of course, not the second. And, speaking of crows, [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gui3IswQ0DI) is one of the better examples I’ve seen illustrating Corvidae problem-solving intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2025, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/97 "2025-02-14T11:52:48Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Are there any tasty carnivores? Bear, lion, puma, lynx, and fox are all excellent fare, just off the mammal list, and not going deep. Taste is not the reason carnivores aren’t routinely eaten, even though that is a widely held belief. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2025, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/98 "2025-02-14T12:40:39Z")
I’ve had bear. Blech. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2025, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/99 "2025-02-14T13:21:23Z")
I’ve had terrible beef and pork, too. It’s (almost) all in the making, somewhat in the specifics of the diet / age / sex of the meat animal, too. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2025, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140/100 "2025-02-14T15:10:50Z")
I’m told that the taste of bear, like pork, is influenced by what the animal ate recently. Bear that was raising garbage cans and eating spoiled food isn’t very good. But bear that is raiding your apple trees is delicious. (This from a mailing list of commercial apple growers.) My guess is that bear that ate clean fresh meat would be tasty, too [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-we-could-train-or-tame-dinosaurs/1014140.md?page=6)