12.06.2003

Jurassifacts
On the Jurassic Park III website (I was looking at the Flash version), the movie makers come clean about how they played fast and loose with the facts. Velociraptor, such a scary fella in the movies, was, in fact, only two feet tall. Also, it probably had feathers.

An excerpt from the Velociraptor entry:

One of the most fascinating fossil discoveries ever made is of a Velociraptor locked in mortal combat with a Protoceratops. Both creatures probably died instantly in a sandstorm and their bodies were buried with the claws of the raptor in the body of the little ceratopsian, whose mouth was firmly locked on the raptor's leg.

Spinosaurus -- the star of the third movie -- was, like T. rex, about sixteen feet tall (the movie didn't change that), but the real Spinosaurus's diet probably consisted mostly of fish.

An excerpt from the Spinosaurus entry:

Spinosaurus is somewhat of a tragic story. At one time, there was an almost complete specimen on display in a museum in Germany. However, it was completely destroyed and lost forever during the bombing of Germany in WWII.

Pteranodon, the large pterodactyl in Jurassic Park III, really was that big -- its wingspan was thirty feet. The site says, "When it spread its wings, it could reach from the front to the back of a school bus." (The little dinosaurs in the back seat couldn't get away with any monkey business when Mr. Pteranodon was driving.) It goes on to say, "Members of the pterosaur family lived through much of the Mesozoic, some with wingspans close to 50 feet." Wow. You'd need more than a mosquito net to keep those guys out of your business. Luckily, they ate mostly fish. (Not lucky for the fish, though, of course.)

Here's something that has nothing to do with dinosaurs, but does involve old bones -- and a chariot. (Via Mike Gerber.)