Re: errors in Jurassic Park

["King, Norm" <nking.ucs@smtp.usi.edu>]

Bret Bennington (01/05/96; 2:28p) wrote:

>One of our local Jr. High Schools will be screening 'Jurassic Park' for
>their Earth science classes.  As a follow-up to the film they will be
>looking for and discussing scientific errors in the film (they just did
>this for 'Apollo 13' and it really got the kids interest).

>Can anyone provide me with any print/newsgroup/web references or 
personal
>observations regarding the scientific accuracy of the film that I can 
pass
>along to Valley Stream Jr High School?


Here are some obsrvations that I didn't see on the UCMP site:

1.  _Velociraptor_ was too big.  The reason is that the movie version of 
_V._ was big enough to put a person in a _Velociraptor_ suit to operate 
it.

2.  _Dilophosaurus_ was too small.  In fact, the movie version was about 
the same size as _Velociraptor_.  The reason is that the _D._ had to be 
the right size so a person could fit into a _Dilophosaurus_ suit to 
operate it!

3.  If _Dilophosaurus_ indeed had an expandable skin collar around its 
neck (and that's total speculation), it certainly wouldn't have deployed 
it when facing a prospective meal (Nedry).  That kind of display is more 
for intimidating prospective competitors (such as for mates or 
territory).  Why would a carnivore try to intimidate its next meal?  In 
fact, doing so might drive the meal candidate into such a panic that it 
could somehow find "superhuman" strength to escape.

4.  _Velociraptor_ would not likely jump on a _T. rex_ (as in the visitor 
center at the end of the movie), any more than a cat might jump on the 
back  of a wolf--for any reason.

5.  You shouldn't think of a brachiosaur as a "big cow" (like the 
paleontologist said to the kids--what was his name?).  The movie showed 
the brachiosaur chewing by moving its jaws from side to side, like a cow 
or horse chews.  Dinosaurs couldn't do that--their jaws moved just up and 
down, so they had to find other ways to grind vegetal matter (gizzard 
stones and swing-out upper jaws, for example).

6.  Earlier on, the stupid brachiosaur reared up on its hind legs to bite 
off some branches from the top of a tree, but rearing up didn't make its 
head any higher at all.  So why did it rear up?


These are fairly low-tech observations that the kids can probably 
appreciate. They might not get much out of a discussion of DNA and 
cloning.


*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Norman R. King                                       tel:  (812) 464-1794
Department of Geosciences                            fax:  (812) 464-1960
University of Southern Indiana
8600 University Blvd.
Evansville, IN 47712                      e-mail:  nking.ucs@smtp.usi.edu