# Jurassic Park questions. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 25, 2013, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886 "2013-03-25T04:02:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![irritant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@irritant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irritant)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/41 "2013-03-26T00:58:28Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > One mistake is that the t-rex pen changes from level ground to a massive pit as soon as the t-rex escapes. [Untrue.](http://jplegacy.org/?ffjpking) ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/42 "2013-03-26T01:11:09Z")
> [@oft\_wears\_hats](#): > > I thought the triceratops was sick due to pregnancy, since the dinos were discovered to be unexpectedly breeding later in the film. Pregnancy? Dinos lay eggs. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/43 "2013-03-26T01:13:38Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > You don’t recall the scene where the rex is chasing after the speeding car? And hunting other dinosaurs. And hunting humans. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/44 "2013-03-26T01:13:39Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > He would do that if he were a scavenger? :dubious: No, he wouldn’t. > [@RickJay](#): > > And hunting other dinosaurs. And hunting humans. And not only that, but Grant specifically comments about how t-rex doesn’t just want his food handed to him (referring to the chained up goat), he wants to hunt. I mean the rex winds up eating the goat anyway, but it’s clear the movie wasn’t trying to present the rex as a scavenger. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/45 "2013-03-26T01:22:14Z")
Thanks for the replies so far! Many of you brought up other problems I had with the movie and forgot about… So thanks for that… I think. > [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > False. > > A paleontology course. > > Perhaps there’s a path that circumnavigates the wooded area but they wanted to cut directly through to save time. > > He was clearly there with a group of tourists, one or two of whom were presumably his parents. > > People make verbal missteps all the time. The lawyer isn’t presented as the sharpest apple in the sink. This is the first reply to the thread. I’ll let you take a look at it instead of reposting it here. I’ll just say that your first answer/comment of “False” explains the other answers you supply. They are all equally wrong. Your answer about the kid is not only wrong, someone else posted a cut scene explaining the kid, so you weren’t even close. So he wasn’t “clearly” there as a tourist, except in your fogged mind. 🙂 > [@GuanoLad](#): > > I’ve never been a big fan of _Jurassic Park_, so I have no satisfying answers. But I also thought that kid at the start was a weird scene, with a weird kid, who seemed entirely out of place. And in real life he continues to be a [very odd looking fellow](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0381035/). > > I think it’s a clumsy, poorly paced film, with not enough dinosaur action, and with a really crappy ending. I much prefer JP3. Thank you (I think) for posting that link. That picture freaked me out. What is it with his eyes? If I ran into him on the street in broad daylight, I’d give him my wallet and watch just so he wouldn’t turn me into another zombie. Good grief! > [@the\_diego](#): > > "Any other one you have? " I have no idea what that is. I think I was probably so eager to post the thread, I didn’t proofread properly. That’s a pretty bad sentence fragment no matter how you slice it!:smack: > [@Stephe96](#): > > Watch the scene again. The lawyer uses his pen to clearly refer to the experts in the car ahead of him. “If they’re not convinced, I’m not convinced” makes perfect sense. He’s not referring to the investors, he’s referring Grant et al. I have watched the scene…( I have a VCR AND a DVD player!). He isn’t referring to Grant et al. Grant et al aren’t investors. They are supposedly experts brought down to sign off on the island. The investors got the lawyer down there before Grant and gang were affirmed. > [@Infovore](#): > > Apparently there was a deleted scene that explains why the kid was there: > [Eddie (Jurassic Park) | Jurassic Park Wiki | Fandom](http://jurassicpark.wikia.com/wiki/Volunteer_Boy) Thank you! That does explain the kid, but without this context, they should have cut the goofy looking kid, too. And sorry.. I said he called it a six foot chicken. He called it a six foot turkey. > [@Quimby](#): > > I like Jurassic Park but one strange mistake they make that is hard to notice is early on in the movie when they first tour the Park, Ellie pulls a leave off a tree and starts to stunningly say the plant has been extinct for millions of years. She is interrupted by her first look at a living dinosaur. Later we find out how they made the Dinosaurs but not how they resurrected a plant. Another big pet peeve of mine that should have been in the OP. Lets say they somehow got the DNA for a plant (how, I have no idea). Who is growing the plants, and more importantly, who is running around the island planting the plants? I can’t imagine they would be able to survive, as the earths atmosphere during the dinosaurs reign wasn’t exactly the same as it is now. I would think a plant that old would have a hell of a time surviving in today’s air/climate. > [@ministryman](#): > > My peeve was when the girl says “It’s a Unix System! I know this!” > > Right…even if you discount thae fact that at the time of the movie there were 4 or 5 distros of Unix, the odds that she a) knew the one running the island, and b) knew the login and c) understood the GUI and d) understood the application where laughable. > > Of course, I bought the frog DNA into dinosaur thing. It wasn’t just the fact that she knew it was a Unix system… To me, it was also how she pronounced the word Unix. Almost like “you-neeks” system, and her accent is on the wrong syllable. I know this is pretty nitpicky, but I was on a roll by this point in the movie. > [@snowthx](#): > > In the scene where Newman gets killed by the tar-spitting dino, the can of Barbasol (which contains the stolen dino DNA), is shown getting buried in a mud flow. At the time, I thought “Oh, forshadowing! The writers are planning for the future.” But the can never resurfaces. Unless I missed it, does the stolen and lost DNA ever play a role in any of the plots of the sequels? If not, why was that shown so specifically? I remember thinking the same thing when I first saw it. However, If you remember, Dodson told him it only had enough coolant to keep the embryos viable for a day or so. I don’t remember the exact time. Anyway, I first thought it would lead to a sequel, but then realized it was just good product placement by Barbasol, and whatever they paid to have their can in the movie, it was money well spent. > [@terentii](#): > > Scavengers feed off dead animal carcasses, rather than making their own kills. They are still carnivores. > > The idea that _T. rex_ was a scavenger rather than a hunter was, IIRC, based on its tiny forelimbs. Forget the huge teeth and head and neck muscles and powerful legs; if it couldn’t grasp things, it couldn’t hunt … so went the reasoning. :rolleyes: I think the idea that T-Rex was a scavenger is a no-brainer. ALL carnivores on the earth today will take an easy meal if they can get it. Lions steal meals, as do hyenas, and any other meat eating animal. After all, having to chase and burn energy to potentially get a meal is less preferable to just walking up and scarfing a dead carcass. As for T-Rex JUST being a scavenger, I don’t know about that. Those arms are ridiculous, however as long as it was able to stick his head down and grab onto the neck of an animal it was taller and faster than, I don’t see how you could stop him from killing anything he could get his teeth on. One thing I was and still am curious about is the idea of t-Rex being able to see you ONLY if you move. How on earth would anyone be able to make that assumption? One more pet peeve I just remembered. When Ellie sticks her hand in that big pile of poo, I’m sorry but it was simply too tall to be the poo that came out of that sick steno on the ground. That things legs were three maybe four feet long… That stack of poo was over six feet. How would the steno “poo upwards”? Apologies in advance for any typos. I know I make spelling mistakes, but the auto correct on my iPad is horrendous. Oh, and I know it seems I am being overly picky on this movie. But I don’t think I am. After all, for a science fiction movie to work, much of the stuff has to be taken at face value… Like the frog DNA someone mentioned above. But you can’t insult the audience for 120 minutes when you are trying to tell a story in today’s world. I think that’s what made JP so successful in the first place. Most every kid grows up with a fascination with dinosaurs, and to actually see them on our scale would be an amazing thing to do. I really didn’t care if the Dino’s had the “correct” skin color. That’s just guesswork and window-dressing anyway. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/46 "2013-03-26T01:27:06Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Your answer about the kid is not only wrong, someone else posted a cut scene explaining the kid, so you weren’t even close. So he wasn’t “clearly” there as a tourist, except in your fogged mind. 🙂 The original script was also false, which is why it was cut. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/47 "2013-03-26T01:35:10Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > …Another big pet peeve of mine that should have been in the OP. Lets say they somehow got the DNA for a plant (how, I have no idea). Who is growing the plants, and more importantly, who is running around the island planting the plants? I can’t imagine they would be able to survive, as the earths atmosphere during the dinosaurs reign wasn’t exactly the same as it is now. I would think a plant that old would have a hell of a time surviving in today’s air/climate… The plant’s probally a hybrid that’s been tweaked to survive in today’s enviroment too. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/48 "2013-03-26T01:38:26Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > One thing I was and still am curious about is the idea of t-Rex being able to see you ONLY if you move. How on earth would anyone be able to make that assumption? This was explained in Crichton’s _The Lost World._ Based on some casts of _T. rex_ brainpans, someone concluded they had nervous systems similar to amphibians’ (frogs apparently see motion only). In other words, more revisionist paleontology. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/49 "2013-03-26T02:33:38Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > This was explained in Crichton’s _The Lost World._ Based on some casts of _T. rex_ brainpans, someone concluded they had nervous systems similar to amphibians’ (frogs apparently see motion only). In other words, more revisionist paleontology. Ah. So, they are basing it on what they know today about today’s animals. One of the things I remember from the movie and seem to remember from the book was the idea of the gene sequencing, and how gaps were filled by amphibian dna. In the current world, has ANY dino DNA been recovered? and if so, is it even possible that a frog’s dna could fill in any gene gaps? If we took Human DNA, and randomly cut gaps in it, and replaced it with chimp DNA, I can’t see that turning out good, even if we are 98% the same on a DNA level. I don’t see how filling dna gaps in with a frog or anything else would work. But can it? ---
**Author:** ![oft\_wears\_hats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/50 "2013-03-26T02:36:50Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Pregnancy? Dinos lay eggs. Yeah, but…morning sickness, or something, or… Dammit. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/51 "2013-03-26T02:42:22Z")
Many of the critters in the movie are from the Cretaceous period, not the Jurassic. That’s always bothered me. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/52 "2013-03-26T02:42:53Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > Also, I was a bit obsessed with dinosaurs as a kid. So I knew that the walking Komodo Dragons depicted in the movie looked nothing what a “velociraptor” was supposed to look like. (The ‘raptors’ from the film look akin to an actual dinosaur called “Deinonychus.” But there’s no cool badass nickname you can derive from a name like “Deinonychus.”) I’m a grown man and I’m still obsessed with dinosaurs, so I’ll just point out that all dromaeosaurs look pretty similar, and _Deinonychus_ would probably be indistinguishable from _Velociraptor_ (aside, perhaps, from size) to most folks. The critters in the movie were too large to be either (but big enough to be a larger dromaeosaur, such as [_Utahraptor_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Utahraptor_scale.png)). Of course, we also now know they all had more feathers than were depicted in the movie, but I can’t fault them for that, given that first _Velociraptor_ fossils showing evidence of feathers weren’t discovered until 2007… > [@terentii](#): > > This was explained in Crichton’s The Lost World. Based on some casts of T. rex brainpans, someone concluded they had nervous systems similar to amphibians’ (frogs apparently see motion only). In other words, more revisionist paleontology. Not so much revisionist paleontology as fictional paleontology; the alleged braincase studies mentioned in the book were an allusion to A. C. Doyle’s _The Lost World_. See [this earlier thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=389789) on the topic. > [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > I have watched the scene…( I have a VCR AND a DVD player!). He isn’t referring to Grant et al. Grant et al aren’t investors. They are supposedly experts brought down to sign off on the island. The investors got the lawyer down there before Grant and gang were affirmed. Genarro’s dialog from the movie: “Let’s get something straight, John: this is not a weekend excursion; this a serious investigation of the stability of the island. Your investors, whom I represent, are deeply concerned. Forty-eight hours from now, if they’re not convinced [points pen at lead car containing Grant, _et al_], I’m not convinced [points pen at himself]. I’ll shut you down, John.” The paleontologists were brought on board by Hammond to allay the investors’ concerns by getting them to sign off on the park. Earlier in the movie, when Ellie and Grant meet Hammond in their trailer at the digsite: Hammond: […]This particular pebble in my shoe represents my investors. Says that they insist on “outside opinions”. Ellie: What kind of opinions? Hammond: Well, your kind, not to put too fine a point on it. I mean, let’s face it, in your particular field you are the top minds, and if I could just persuade you to sign off on the park - you know, give it your endorsement, maybe even pen a wee testimonial - I could get back on schedule […] ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/53 "2013-03-26T02:53:39Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Ah. So, they are basing it on what they know today about today’s animals. > > One of the things I remember from the movie and seem to remember from the book was the idea of the gene sequencing, and how gaps were filled by amphibian dna. At least some of the duckbills had “amphibian” vision in both the book and the movie, if I’m not mistaken. And doesn’t Gennaro also try freezing just before he’s killed, in the belief that the rex won’t be able to see him? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/54 "2013-03-26T03:28:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Stink Fish Pot** : > > In the current world, has ANY dino DNA been recovered? and if so, is it even possible that a frog’s dna could fill in any gene gaps? Mosquitoes have been found preserved in amber, and DNA recovered from them, but it’s been mosquito DNA. And there has been at least one case of dinosaur DNA recovered directly from dino bones, but it’s not a matter of “filling in the gaps”: Only tiny fragments have been recovered, not even whole genes. Or in other words, it’s essentially _all_ gap. ---
**Author:** ![Astral\_Rejection](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@Astral\_Rejection](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astral_Rejection)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/55 "2013-03-26T03:34:04Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > At least some of the duckbills had “amphibian” vision in both the book and the movie, if I’m not mistaken. And doesn’t Gennaro also try freezing just before he’s killed, in the belief that the rex won’t be able to see him? I’m quoting you, but this is really in response to the whole discussion. In the original book, Grant tells the kids to freeze. In the sequel, another character comments on how stupid that advice was. It was a plot point about Grant being misinformed, and the character in the sequel speculates that the T-Rex was full from the goat and Gennaro, and is toying with them like a cat. I suppose Crichton could himself have been misinformed, and then attempted to “fix” the mistake in the sequel, but this at least answers the question conclusively: Grant was dumb. ---
**Author:** ![splatterpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@splatterpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/splatterpunk)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/56 "2013-03-26T05:10:41Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > 1. one of my biggest pet peeves in this movie is a verbal one. When the party gets off the helicopter, and the Attorney is telling Hammond about the weekend, he says to him in the jeep. “Your investors, who’m I represent, are deeply concerned. in 48 hours, if they’re not convinced, I’m not convinced. I’ll shut you down, John.” Wrong! You said it backwards, you dumb bastard. He should have said “If I’m not convinced, They won’t be convinced. We’ll shut you down, John.” See? A simple, but vital change in that sentence makes it actually make sense. How no one caught this is beyond me. Wrong. Everyone caught it but you. When the lawyer says that line, he indicates with his pen toward the Jeep ahead of him - the Jeep carrying Grant and Sadler. “If they’re not convinced, I’m not convinced.” He was referring to Grant and Sadler. In other words, if Grant and Sadler didn’t sign off on the park, he would report that to the investors, who would then pull the plug on the park. It made perfect sense. Try again. On preview, I see that **Darwin’s Finch** has covered this. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/57 "2013-03-26T11:15:21Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > At least some of the duckbills had “amphibian” vision in both the book and the movie, if I’m not mistaken. And doesn’t Gennaro also try freezing just before he’s killed, in the belief that the rex won’t be able to see him? No, Gennaro runs to the outhouse and tries to hide there from the T. Rex. Incidentally, while Grant tells everyone to stay still to avoid detection in the movie _ **Jurassic Park** _, in Crichton’s book\*\*\* The Lost World\*\*\*, that turns out to be very bad advice. In THAT book, people who freeze get eaten. Indeed, one character sees people freezing in front of a T. Rex and says something like, “Are they crazy? You don’t stay still in front of a predator! You yell, you make noise, you do ANYTHING to try to scare it off! Why are they just STANDING there?” Ian Malcolm then deadpans, “They are misinformed.” Perhaps after writing the first book, Crichton met some scientists who told him his original premise was wrong, and thought he’d address that in the sequel. Or, perhaps, Crichton just made a LOT of plausible but questionable assumptions about dinosaurs- some of which have been conclusively refuted by subsequent study, some of which are still in dispute. I’m no expert on dinosaurs, so I will offer NOT opinions. But even people who ARE experts often have serious disagreements about dinosaur behavior, so it’s hardly fair to pick on Crichton for his choices. He generally didn’t make stuff up- he just picked and chose from different theories offered by leading voices in paleontology. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/58 "2013-03-26T12:42:37Z")
All you need to know about Jurassic Park in three words: Look! Dinos! Run! ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/59 "2013-03-26T13:17:00Z")
Regarding the T. Rex in the film: It was shown to be a chasing predator, which was highly unlikely. It’s legs weren’t built for speed. I think Jack Horner makes a very good case for T. rex to have been an opportunist carnivore. If it could ambush something, it would, but it probably stole kills from other predators, much like lions do today. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886/60 "2013-03-26T13:38:51Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > One more pet peeve I just remembered. When Ellie sticks her hand in that big pile of poo, I’m sorry but it was simply too tall to be the poo that came out of that sick steno on the ground. That things legs were three maybe four feet long… That stack of poo was over six feet. How would the steno “poo upwards”? It climbed a tree? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jurassic-park-questions/653886.md?page=4)