The trailer for Jurassic World, the latest instalment in the Jurassic Park franchise, was released today, and well… see for yourself.
While scientists have apparently figured out how to genetically modify dinosaurs (which I thought was the entire premise of the original when they spliced frog DNA into ancient Dino DNA, but whatever, GM-OH NOES!), they still haven’t hired an entomologist to tell them which amber inclusions are mosquitoes (family Culicidae), and which are crane flies (family Tipulidae).
Oops.
No big deal though, crane flies and mosquitoes are close enough, right? Well, actually they’re about as closely related to one another as velociraptors are to sea turtles (and only a little more closely related than humans are to Tyrannosaurus rex).
I think we can all agree that Jurassic World would have a much different mood if it climaxed with this
than it does with this
So for all you Hollywood producers out there looking for an entomology consultant to save you from embarrassing oversights, have your people call my people; we can fix this. But in the meantime, save me a seat when Jurassic World hits theatres.
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P.S. About that Mosasaur. While we know marine mammals like killer whales can be bitten by mosquitoes (a captive killer whale in San Antonio contracted and later died of West Nile Virus back in 2007), the odds of a mosquito biting a wild mosasaur in the ocean, and then flying, fully leaden with blood, back to shore, only to be immediately entombed in sap running down a tree trunk and preserved for a few million years as an amber inclusion, are a bit of a stretch.
There’s a chance I may be overthinking this.
But in the meantime, save me a seat when Jurassic World hits theatres.
You can have mine. That looks just awful.
I’ll be there too, but I wince every time I see an actor mention things “cooked up in the lab”!
You’ve touched on a real sore point for me. Hollywood will to great lengths to make sure that the buttons on British soldier’s uniforms are authentically reproduced for a fantasy movie such Pirates of the Carribbean, I know this because my neighbour who has expertise in this field was employed to do this. While on the other had this same industry will use the echoing calls of Loons in a tropical setting, or when showing a Bald Eagle in flight will substitute the dry rasping call of a Red Tailed Hawk for the thin chirping calls of a Bald Eagle. Thanks for sharing my pain.