Indominus rex: the fierce or untamable King

Jurassic Park 4, now released as Jurassic World first made New Scientist headlines in April 2013 as the director stated that all dinosaurs present in the movie would be featherless like the previous releases. We now know that this wasn't always the case, Velociraptors are one of the species we now know to have had feathers.

As a geologist with a keen interest in palaeobiology, the viewing of the film was a necessity!

Although it may be a movie, it essentially gives the majority of the audience an insight into how far research has come by studying and interpreting fossils. It’s important for others to learn about the past in order to understand the concepts of the future.

One of my favourite lines of the movie was when the owner Simon Masrani states, “Jurassic World exists to remind us how very small we are.” I completely agree with this, in fact it made me pause for a few minutes. As humans, we tend to be very self-centred. We have no predators and we control the food chain. It allows you to put into perspective how life would be if humans were not the top predator.

I loved the film! But then again, anything geological or dinosaur related I do, so I admit I’m slightly biased. It is just a tad disappointing when the film industry doesn't make the most of recent research. They are responsible and have the ability to influence viewer’s knowledge based on the content of the film. If they want a certain species to star in their movie, speak to an expert, speak to researcher and ensure that they can make it as real-life as possible. As consumers, that’s what we want. We want to know that that particular dinosaur looked like that, ate liked that, walked like that. We want to be immersed in the film, be drawn into the screen as if we are there ourselves. So please, directors, at least make it as true as you can!