Velociraptors on Isla Sorna – Jurassic Park 3 – Why do the velociraptors look different
Many of the features of velociraptors in Jurassic Park are fictional where the real velociraptor is only the size of a turkey and the velociraptors in Jurassic Park are more of a species of deinonychus.
Yet, Jurassic Park made a fictional concept of the velociraptors that they’ve adapted to the new environment.
The velociraptors on Isla Nublar and the velociraptors in The Lost World: Jurassic Park 2(The Lost World takes place on Isla Sorna but these are also depicted as lowland velociraptors) are referred as lowland velociraptors while in Jurassic Park 3, the velociraptors are referred as highland velociraptors.
The highland velociraptors feature distinctive looks where the male highland velociraptors are red and purple with a quill structure while the female highland velociraptors have a more camouflage appearance.
The highland velociraptors are also depicted as more intelligent and vocal where they would communicate with their own distinctive language over distances.
The highland velociraptors would even set up traps and make risk assessments as they would flee from Dr. Grant and the Kirby family once they’ve secured their eggs as they’ve heard the US military forces landing on the beach.
The highland velociraptors thought that Dr. Grant made a distress signal in their own language so they decided to flee instead of killing the group because they thought the reinforcements of Dr. Grant might avenge. The alpha of the highland velociraptors were supposedly the female velociraptors.
Spinosaurus
The main antagonist carnivore dinosaur that swallowed Paul Kirby’s satellite phone that would constantly ring as a forewarning was a Spinosaurus.
The name Spinosaurus aegyptiacus means “spined lizard” and there are arguments that the Spinosaurus is the largest carnivore dinosaur that existed as the longest fossil of the Spinosaurus was long as 14 meters which is about 46 feet.
The Spinosaurus is estimated to weight almost 10 tons which is about 19,800 pounds and the spikes on the distinctive sail on the Spinosaurus’s back could even grow up to 1.7 meters which is about 5 feet.
The Spinosaurus is one of the dinosaurs with many controversies after discovery of a new fossil after new fossil. Some research suggest that the Spinosaurus would rather spend more time in an aquatic environment and rather survive on fish while other research suggest that the Spinosaurus was more of a terrestrial carnivore.
Such controversies have affected the predicted appearance of the Spinosaurus like the tail where some argue that the tail of the Spinosaurus would act as a propeller based on the theory it lived in a semi-aquatic environment while others argued that it would have a straight structure.
The sail of the Spinosaurus is unknown as some argue that it was like a camel hump where the Spinosaurus would store energy and water while others would argue that it was for mere species recognition or it may assist in swimming.
In Jurassic Park 3, the Spinosaurus is featured as the antagonist and a very aggressive carnivore dinosaur where it would not only hunt for prey but it would also attack and pursuit anything that has provoked it. The spinosaurus would even take down a Tyrannosaurus Rex by itself.
The Spinosaurus in Jurassic Park 3 crashed the plane, wiped out the mercenaries and threatened the group until it was put onto flames at the river and eventually fled.
The Spinosaurus was one of the illegal dinosaurs that was engineered by a secret team dispatched by the Masrani Global Corporation after they’ve acquired InGen. Dr. Alan Grant thus didn’t notice the existence of the Spinosaurus as he had read through the InGen List.
The Spinosaurus was depicted as the largest predator on Isla Sorna that was even capable of taking down the Tyrannosaurus Rex in front of the group. Eric Kirby was also alert on the existence of the Spinosaurus as he said that the urine of the Tyrannosaurus attracts the Spinosaurus so he asked for caution.
Pteranodon
The flying dinosaurs that were kept in the aviary were the Pteranodon. The name Pteranodon means ‘toothless wing’, however in Jurassic Park 3, the Pteranodon were depicted with teeth.
There are several species of Pteranodon so it is difficult to define the characteristics of the Pteranodon where some adult species could have a wingspan small as 12feet(3.8meters) while larger species could have a 6.5meter or 21 feet wingspan.
The weight of the Pteranodon would also vary by species from 20kgs which is about 45 pounds to 90kgs which is about 200 pounds.
The Pteranodon species in Jurassic Park 3 was rather the larger species and it seemed the Pteranodon would even weigh much more than the expected weight of a real Pteranodon. The Pteranodon was depicted as a very aggressive carnivorous aerial dinosaur.
However research of the Pteranodon suggest that its main diet would be fish and it also lacked the claws that would enable it to grip an object or prey like depicted in the movie.
Thus, in reality Pteranodon were highly likely to have hunt with their beaks while picking up fish from the water for their diet.
Corythosaurus
The name Corythosaurus meant “Helmet Lizard” and it was one of the dinosaurs that had a duckbill like snout. The corythosaurus had a distinctive crest on the top of the head and it would be 9 meters which is about 30 feet in length and weigh up to 4 tons.
In Jurassic Park 3, a herd of corythosaurus were coexisting with the Parasaurolophus, the parasaurs that were feeding on grass where the Kirby’s, Billy, Udesky and Alan bumped into as they were running away from the velociraptors that were chasing them from the InGen Compound.
The corythosaurus were also one of the illegal dinosaurs that were cloned by the Masrani Global Corporation after the InGen acquisition.
Ceratosaurus
The Ceratosaurus was also another illegal dinosaur cloned outside of the InGen List. The Ceratosaurus was a carnivore with distinctive horns on the top of the nose and the two horns over the eyes.
The name Ceratosaurus meant “Horned Lizard” and it would grow to a length about 20 feet which is about 6 meters and possibly tall as high as 2 meters 6.5 feet weighing about 1 ton which is about 2,200 pounds.
The Ceratosaurus was a relatively middle-sized dinosaur among the carnivores. Researchers suppose that the Ceratosaurus would rather feed on fish and was more of a scavenger than an active predator.
The horned carnivore dinosaur that the group met on the riverbank was a Ceratosaurus near by the pile of droppings of the Spinosaurus (this is presumable from the satellite phone).
While the group retrieves the satellite phone from the Spinosaurus droppings, the Ceratosaurus flees after it has either sensed the odor of the dropping of the Spinosaurus or it sensed that the Spinosaurus was nearby and didn’t want to get involved in trouble.
