For 25 years of filming the epic about the lizards, scientists found out that they looked completely different.
In June, the world premiere of the film Jurassic World 2 took place. The fifth film of the famous series in less than a month brought the creators $ 800 million at the box office (with a budget of 170 million). This is an absolute success, although the previous film "Jurassic World", which was produced by Spielberg himself, with a box office of $ 1.6 billion, took the 5th place in the ranking of the most profitable films in the history of cinema.
However, despite the audience's delight, paleontologists accuse the creators of being unscientific. The fact is that since the creation of the first film in 1993 (who has not seen "Jurassic Park"! - author), dinosaur science has advanced far ahead. And what 25 years ago the scientists who consulted the film considered an immutable truth, today is branded as an obscurantist delusion. However, the creators of the blockbuster deliberately did not change the external (aka marketable) appearance of dinosaurs, to which the audience was accustomed, fearing that it would bring losses. Well, let's restore justice and analyze the most egregious moments when filmmakers have sinned against the truth!
1. Dinosaurs were stripped of scales
On the screen, the lizards shine with a scaly skin, it makes them look like dragons from fairy tales. However, in the mid-90s of the last century in the Chinese province of Liaoning, fossilized remains of carnivorous dinosaurs with the remains of a feather cover were found. Further, similar finds began to appear like mushrooms after rain. Today, it is proven that at least 8 families of carnivorous dinosaurs (including Tyrannosaurus and Veloceraptor) sported down and feathers. But how to sell a giant rooster weighing 9.5 tons and 12 meters long under the Tyrannosaurus brand? Steven Spielberg, in his later films, made some compromise with science and decorated the nape of the lizards with several decorative tufts of feathers. But Episode 4 and 5 screenwriter Colin Trevorrow, in response to calls for realism, categorically replied on Twitter: "No feathers!"Therefore, contrary to historical truth and the discoveries of paleontologists, dinosaurs roam in cinemas in the form of huge ladies' bags made of crocodile skin.
Writer Colin Trevorrow, in response to calls for realism, categorically replied: "No feathers!".
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2. Lizards did not growl, but cooed like doves
When the Hollywood Tyrannosaurus emits a battle cry, the earth trembles around and the wind rips leaves from the trees. In fact, filmmakers chose the sound sequence at random, based on the task of scaring the viewer. And genetic memory suggests that the biggest danger to Homo Sapiens is the roar of a large predator like a lion or a tiger. But what sounds did the lizards actually make?
It is unlikely that their vocal abilities were similar to the abilities of mammals. Most likely they made sounds in about the same range as their closest relatives - birds and reptiles.
Paleontologist Thomas Williamson of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science believes the lizards' "voice" was like the cooing of doves. Adjusted for body size, naturally. During cooing, pigeons close their beak, inflate the esophagus and drive a bubble of air along it. Tyrannosaurs most likely communicated using such rumbling and humming sounds. But this "cooing" inspired their contemporaries no less horror than us - the roaring of lions. However, for the filmmakers, the main thing is to influence people's feelings. Therefore, the truth once again had to be neglected.
3. Red, yellow, blue - choose any for yourself
Scientists knew that nature could paint the lizards in all the colors of the rainbow back in the early 90s, when Spielberg filmed the first "Jurassic Park".
“I insisted that the dinosaurs in the picture looked bright,” recalls the film's scientific consultant, Montana State University paleontologist Jack Horner. “But Spielberg chose the scary colors - dark gray-brown and blue-green.
For a long time, scientists could not establish the true coloring of the dinosaurs. There were fossilized fragments of soft tissues, but over tens of millions of years they completely lost their shades. However, at the end of the 2000s of this century, using modern microscopes, paleontologists were able to discern melanosomes in the remains of dinosaurs - intracellular bubbles with pigment, they are responsible for the color of living things. It turned out that the shape and location of tiny melanosomes can be used to determine the color of a dinosaur's feather. So the ancient creatures found their true color: they could combine black, white, orange, red, gray and other colors and were no less variegated than tropical parrots.
Spielberg chose frightening colors for dinosaurs - dark gray-brown and blue-green. Although in reality they were as bright as tropical parrots.
4. Tyrannosaurus turned out to be a scavenger
For 25 years of the Hollywood epic, the main "bad guy" of the blockbuster, Tyrannosaurus, was demoted by paleontologists from active predators to scavengers. More and more specialists, including the consultant of the Jurassic epic Jack Horner, are inclined to believe that with such a complexion it was difficult for a clumsy giant to chase game. In addition, the diminutive (compared to the rest of the body) forelimbs were probably not capable of holding game. However, the physical strength and size (in one bite the animal snatched 70 kg of soft tissues) allowed the tyrannosaur to take prey from smaller predators.
- If the tyrannosaurus and hunted, then on the weak, sick or dying animals, - says Jack Horner.
According to scientists, tyrannosaurs were white and fluffy.
It is curious that the authors of the film made a mistake with the trainer of velociraptors Owen Grady. In fact, his wards (until the last film "survived" only his favorite Blue) are more like deinonychus - relatives of velociraptors. The latter were in fact the size of a bulldog, weighed about 20 kilograms and would not pose such a mortal danger to humans. But Michael Crichton, author of the dinosaur saga, Jurassic Park, was mistaken in his scientific literature. And he called the Veloceratops a much larger lizard (the Deinonychus weighed about 70 kg, and its length was almost 3.5 meters). The filmmakers did not dare to correct the meter and replicated the ridiculous mistake all over the world.
YAROSLAV KOROBATOV
