Disney dinosaurs

[Kendall Clements <k.clements@auckland.ac.nz>]

Reading all the howls of outrage over the Disney Movie and WWD brought 
two things to mind. First, I always thought it would have been clever 
in Jurassic Park if they had come up with "unknown" dinosaurs. Surely 
the species represented by fossils are only a small subset of what 
actually existed. Thus if it was possible to recreate dinosaurs via DNA 
from blood cells in amber-trapped mosquitoes (and it won't ever be 
possible), we would EXPECT to see species we don't know as fossils. 
In other words, a scientific assessment of what would be sampled 
by such a cloning process would allow a bit more artistic license than 
they actually employ! Don't know about the lips though! 

Second, getting upset about the story getting in the way of facts (e.g. 
reconstruction detail) is pretty silly. That's pretty much all 
Hollywood does these days. U-571 is based on a true story, but a true 
story about BRITISH submariners (not the good 'ol boys in the movie). 
The movie on Colditz that's in planning will star Americans, yet no 
American ever escaped or attempted to escape from there.

Kendall

----------------------
Kendall Clements
k.clements@auckland.ac.nz