Re: RAPTOR AND JELLO?

[freeman@netcom.com (Jay Reynolds Freeman)]

Well, as long as we are on the subject of incorrect bits and pieces, here are
a few things that bothered me, that I don't think have been mentioned in the
recent discussion.

1) No ground disturbance, or flying dust and debris, during the _Gallimimus_
   stampede.
2) When the jeep carrying Muldoon _et_al._ pulled up to the site where the
   automagic jeep had been shoved over the wall by the _T._rex_, there was
   no ground disturbance of any kind in the mud and gravel of the road --
   no tire tracks, no _T._rex_ tracks, et cetera.  One _T._rex_ track
   mysteriously materialized later on, just in time for the puddle of water
   in it to start jiggling when the _T._rex_ was coming back.  It might have
   been much more effective cinematography to have had the road several 
   feet deep in disturbed mud, the more so because the _T._rex_ would 
   probably have been able to make much better headway through it than
   the jeep or its occupants.
3) Tim was in no danger from the electrified fence as long as he did not
   touch the ground and the fence simultaneously.  The "human piece of
   toast" scene was ridiculous.  (BTW, speaking of human foodstuffs, 
   since there is already one _T._rex_ named "Sue", could we say that
   Gennaro (however spelled) had met his fate as a Creep Sue's Et?  Yes, the
   humans were pretty dull and uninteresting but after all, they only had
   bit parts...)
4) Why were the _Velociraptors_ even awake?  Three of them had been given
   a whole bullock to gorge on earlier in the day, and it almost certainly
   outmassed them all put together.  The _Velociraptor_ pack should have
   been sprawled in somnolent repose, belly up, feet in the air, snoring
   peacefully, for another day or two.
       (Actually, there is a good explanation for this:  There was, after
   all, a _T._rex_ on the loose; that might be enough to make even the
   most inert of small (comparatively!) carnivorous couch potatos wake
   up and become agitated, in which case they were in the main headquarters
   building only in search of a good place to hide.  And where better than
   in a place they associated with home and security in their youth.)
5) What wonderful foresight on the part of the architects of the headquarters
   building, to have made the floor of the dining room sufficiently strong
   to withstand a _T._rex_ trampling on it.  No doubt they anticipated
   college kids in the park during spring break...
6) Having the newly-dominant animal in a social predator pack kill many of
   the other animals therein does not sound convincing in light of the 
   behavior of those social predators for which there is ethological data:
   Don't most social predators studied usually do a good job of intergroup
   conflict resolution without serious violence?  Constant fighting with
   your pack mates doesn't sound like a good way to grow old enough to
   reproduce: I would expect outclassed _Velociraptors_ to kowtow and become
   functional subordinate members of the pack.
7) On the "lysine contingency":  I submit that Crichton really messed this
   one up: Many creatures do not synthesize all twenty of the amino acids
   which are coded for by DNA, and rely instead on diet to obtain the others.
   If I am not mistaken, lysine is one of the ones that we ourselves do not
   synthesize.  (Someone hollar if I've got it wrong.)  I would expect a
   predator to have a high-protein diet, that would be more likely to supply
   sufficient of all amino acids, than an omnivore or an herbivore.

                                                --  Jay Freeman