| It is no secret
that Jurassic Park is riddled with scientific inaccuracy. This page aims
to clearly illustrate the most significant error in the film. However, I'm not
even certain that the word "error" is appropriate because certain of
the - shall we say - "untrue dinosaur renditions" appear to be deliberate. 
"Velociraptor" as
depicted in Jurassic Park
The
focus of this page is Velociraptor. This animal is described in the book
and in film dialogue incorrectly as being 2 metres tall. In reality Velociraptor
was 2 metres in length and probably stood just under 1 metre tell. This size depicted
in Jurassic Park could be forgivavble for dramatic effect however it does beg
the question: "Why not simply use a larger dinosaur of the same family?" 
The
bizarre thing is that the dinosaur in Jurassic Park which is given the name "Velociraptor"
is actually an accurate rendition of another animal - Deinonychus. 
Above
is a true Velociraptor skull. Notice how slender the nose is. 
Above is an image
from the film Jurassic Park. The skull of this animal is significantly deeper
and the more steeply sloped. 
Above
is the skull of Deinonychus. Look at the angle of the snout. Compare the depth
of the skull and also the proportion of the upper and lower jaws - they are perfect
match for the "Raptors" seen in Jurassic Park. Dilophosaurus
Not to Scale The
Dilophosaurus shown in Jurassic Park was given a large neck frill and the ability
to spit venom. While these characteristics are proven true to the animal (because
soft tissue does not often preserve) they cannot be argued against. What
I do consider to be inaccurate is the size of this animal. The true size of this
animal ranges from 5.5 metres up to 7 metres. 
The
above illustration shows the size of Dilophosaurus as it should have apppeared
and, in light grey, the size of the animal as it was in Jurassic Park. Perhaps
it could be argued that the two seen in the film were juveniles. Similar
size errors are made with the Stegosaurus in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. | 