It turns out that all the dinosaurs featured in the movie Jurassic Park are not from the Jurassic Period, but rather the Cretaceous Period.
Apparently Hollywood didn't think the title Cretaceous Park sounded as good.
Thank goodness for National Monuments like the one near Dinosaur, Colorado to get the truth out.
While visiting the monument, Ranger Tiffany informed me that the only dinosaur in the movie Jurassic Park that belongs to the Jurassic period is the Apatosaurus.
Fun fact about the Apatosaurus, it has leg bones an arm bones similar to humans.
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| Humerus, Radius, Ulna |
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| Femur, Tibia, Fibula |
The Velociraptor in the movie is actually patterned after a different dinosaur that existed in the early Jurassic Period, the Dilophorous. The real Velociraptor dinosaurs are the size of a turkey and found in China.
T-rex's didn't exist in the Jurassic Period at all, but rather the Cretaceous.
During my visit to the Dino Quarry at Dinosaur National Monument I also learned other valuable information.
For example, Earl Douglass came across this dinosaur mecca by accident in 1909.
He found 8 tailbones sticking out of the ground.
Later 20 full skeletons were found in the area as well as fossils from 400 different dinosaurs.
All the dinosaurs found in the quarry lived during the Jurassic Period.
The ACTUAL Jurassic Period, not the misrepresented one from the Jurassic Park movie.
During this period the most commonly found dinosaurs were the Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, and Camarasaurus.
Basically, I loved learning about the dinosaurs and I'm never trusting anything in the movie Jurassic Park again.
Hopefully my new interest in paleontology will protect me from future deception.
