Jurassic Park

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Jurassic Park is a novel written by Michael Crichton and published in 1990. Often considered a cautionary tale on unconsidered biological tinkering in the same spirit as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, it uniquely uses the mathematical concept of chaos theory and its philosophical implications to explain the collapse of an amusement park showcasing certain recreated dinosaur species.

Plot summary

The novel, in an "introduction", is initially presented as a brief report on the consequences of "The InGen Incident", which occurred in August 1989. This "fiction as fact" presentation had been used by Crichton before, notably in Eaters of the Dead and The Andromeda Strain. Shortly after the story begins, a group of scientists (including paleontologist Alan Grant and chaos theory mathematician Ian Malcolm) are invited on an all-expense-paid preview visit to Jurassic Park, a zoo-like amusement park set up by billionaire John Hammond (founder of InGen) on the island of Isla Nublar (near Costa Rica). Hammond wishes to hear the opinions of the scientists and eventually win their approval of the park; Malcolm expresses misgivings from the beginning.

The park contains dinosaurs, which have been recreated from damaged dinosaur DNA (found in mosquitoes trapped in amber that sucked Saurian blood) that have been spliced with reptilian, avian, or amphibian DNA to fill in the gaps. Hammond and his genetic engineers take great delight in explaining the ways that they created the dinosaurs. The scientists grow apprehensive when they discover that the dinosaurs have been breeding, despite InGen's efforts to keep them sterile.

The action begins when Dennis Nedry, chief programmer of the Jurassic Park controlling software, tries to steal dinosaur embryos per a deal with Lewis Dodgson, who works for one of John Hammond's competitors, Biosyn. In order to do this, he has to turn off the electricity to the park's many electric fences, and a number of dinosaurs — including a Tyrannosaurus rex and eight Velociraptor — escape from their enclosures, and have a number of encounters with the scientists, who remain inside the park.

Eventually several of the characters escape the island alive (although many do not) and the island is razed by the Costa Rican Air Force, although there is disturbing evidence that several velociraptors may have escaped, as well as a number of procompsognathids. The survivors of the incident are detained indefinitely by the Costa Rican government, although the sequel to the book, The Lost World, seems to indicate that they were eventually let out of the country, as Ian Malcolm is the first main character to be introduced, and he is living in the USA at that point. Also, another character states that he met Alan Grant at a conference in Peking the previous year.

The novel is considerably darker in tone and content than the film, with graphic violence and a higher body count.

Dinosaurs and other extinct animals featured

Dinosaurs and other extinct animals confirmed to be on Isla Nublar in the novels:

• Tyrannosaurus
• Velociraptor
• Dilophosaurus
• Apatosaurus (Camarasaurus in some editions)
• Hadrosaurus
• Maiasaura
• Stegosaurus
• Triceratops
• Procompsognathus
• Styracosaurus
• Hypsilophodon
• Othnielia
• Euoplocephalus
• Microceratops (Callovosaurus in some editions)
• Cearadactylus

• Later editions of the novel list Microceratops in place of Callovosaurus on the population tables presented in the book. Microceratops, however, is observed by characters in the park whereas Callovosaurus is not.
• Later editions of the novel use Camarasaurus in place of Apatosaurus, although Apatosaurus remains on the population tables presented in the book.
• A dinosaur presumed to be a coelurosaurus had just begun the DNA extraction procedure at the time the story takes place.
• In addition to dinosaurs and pterosaurs, several prehistoric plants and at least one species of insect -- a giant dragonfly -- were also resurrected from extinction for the park.

Biological issues

Scientists and fans of the movie have pointed out that much of what happens in the film is impossible for various reasons. However, the novel, and to a greater extent, the movie, sparked years of serious debate on the plausibility of cloning dinosaurs.

One of the themes expressed throughout this story and its sequels is that of homeothermic (warm-blooded) dinosaurs, a recent theory popularized by paleontologist Bob Bakker.

While the cinematic incarnation of Jurassic Park used ostrich eggs as vessels to facilitate expression, the novel very specifically utilized "a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell." The plastic was called "millipore", created by an eponymous subsidiary of InGen.[link]

Adaptations

Film

In 1993, Steven Spielberg directed the film adaptation, Jurassic Park. Many plot points from the novel were changed or dropped. (See the film article for details.)

Rides

There are rides based on Jurassic Park in the Universal Studios theme parks in Universal City, California, Orlando, Florida and Osaka.

Video games

There have been a number of Jurassic Park video games released to act as merchandise for the release of each film. The titles have appeared on a range of platforms including NES, Game Boy, Game Gear, PC:DOS/Windows, SNES, Sega Mega CD, Sega Genesis/Sega Mega Drive, 3DO, Arcade, PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

Sequel

The book has one sequel, The Lost World.

Further reading

The Science of Jurassic Park and The Lost World. Or How to Build a Dinosaur. Rob DeSalle and David Lindley. BasicBooks, New York, 1997. xxix, 194 pp., illus. $18 or C$25.50. ISBN 0-465-07379-4.

References

• Cano R.J., Poinar H.N., Pieniazek N.J., Acra A., Poinar G.O. Jr. (1993). [Amplification and Sequencing of DNA from a 120–135-Million-Year-Old Weevil]. Nature, 363:536–538
• Weaver, R. F. (2002). Molecular Biology. McGraw-Hill, New York, p. 76. ISBN 0-07-234517-9
• Noonan, J.P., et. al. [Genomic sequencing of Pleistocene cave bears]. Science 309(5734):597-9, July 2005.

Trivia

The operating system the computers used was IRIX, a UNIX variant made by SGI.

See also

• Jurassic Park Visitors Center

External links

• [Official site]
• [Jurassic Park] at the official Michael Crichton website
• [Fractal From the Novel]
• [Technical paper on molecular paleontology]
• [A list of major and minor gaffes, goofs, and bloopers]
• [Jurassic Park Legacy]
• [Jurassic Park Terror]