Instructions
Dinosaurs have captured the imagination of movie-makers, artists, and the general public alike. However, the recreations and visualizations of these vertebrates may or may not be accurate. In this course, we have discussed how paleontologists use the fossil record to infer details about the morphology, physiology and behavior of dinosaurs. Now it is your turn to be the paleontologist and decide how well these recreations have been done!
Step One:
Watch any one or more of the Jurassic Park movies that include:
- Jurassic Park
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park
- Jurassic Park III
- Jurassic World
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
- Jurassic World: Battle at Big Rock
If you absolutely cannot access a movie, you can alternatively use the famous recreation by Rudolph Zallinger from the Yale Peabody Museum for the assignment (https://i.redd.it/em6ai49097zz.jpg
Links to an external site.).
Step Two:
Identify three morphological, behavioral, or physiological traits of dinosaurs that are being portrayed in the movie. You do not have to pick one trait from each category, so you could pick two morphological and one behavioral trait for example. These traits can be from one group of dinosaurs or several groups of dinosaurs, but be specific about which dinosaur you are referring to for each trait.
Step Three:
Using references from the scientific literature (peer-reviewed journal articles), discuss whether you think the fossil evidence supports each of the three recreations or not (5 points each). The entire write-up should be 1-2 pages long (Times New Roman, double-spaced) and make sure to include proper journal citations in your paper. Please see the attached rubric
for grading guidelines.