Seeing the different theories that float around the science fiction genre is always interesting, especially when it’s about a popular and prolific franchise like Jurassic Park. Although the movie was made super famous when it came out in 1993, many people thought that it strayed too far from the original source material (the books) and that they had very little in common. However, this fan theory might prove that the two have more in common than we initially thought, and one of those details could be that all the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park are actually sick.
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The Dinosaurs Are Sick
This interesting fan discussion came through the r/FanTheories subreddit. It was started by u/astro_not_yet when they uploaded a post titled “All the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park are sick.” They mention that the theory only applies to the first movie’s events, as there seems to be a heavy emphasis on it throughout.
When you think about Jurassic Park, running away from a T-Rex or a pack of raptors is probably the first thing you think about. Still, near the beginning, before chaos breaks out, we are introduced to a triceratops and a brachiosaurus that are both sick. The triceratops’ condition is explained, but the sickness of no other dinosaur is described in the movie. It’s easy to think that the brachiosaurus is sick because it sneezes on the girl.
r/astro_not_yet’s theory is that all of the dinosaurs on the island are sick, not just the herbivores. The T-Rex and the raptors, although terrifying, are prime examples. Also, during the scenes when our human protagonists are running away from the dinos, the predators don’t have the sense of smell they probably should because they take a while to find their prey.
Sure, this could just be a part of the movie’s creation of suspense, but what if there is more to it that we never considered before?
“In the beginning of the kitchen scene, if you remember, the Raptor’s snout is shown through the glass window on the kitchen door. And the Raptor blows into it, covering it with moisture. Animals usually have heavy moisture breath outside, but I doubt it’s the same when they’re in a building. And there’s a bit of effort in blowing out, from the sound it makes, that made me wonder if it was just blowing out of a blocked nostril.”
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Connection to the Book
Surprisingly, u/astro_not_yet’s theory actually has some excellent points. It was u/ootchang who pointed out that the theory had a connection to the first book, a small part of it that mentions some of the complications of the genetic engineering of creatures. Although they didn’t remember the exact details, another user, u/Bandwidth_Wasted, posted an excerpt from the book that explained the connection.
It is mentioned that Hammond had a small elephant, no bigger than a cat, that had been bred through artificial means like an artificial womb and hormone therapy, as well as a careful selection of genetics. The result was a cute little elephant that he would take to showings with him to try and convince board members to give him funding.
He didn’t share that the little elephant was highly prone to colds, especially during winter, and that the chills were worrisome to the point where Hammond was afraid the little animal would die before they successfully bred another one.
Whether the movie intended to or not, they held onto these minor details and maybe created a little Easter egg for their viewers that had also been loyal to the books.
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Interesting Connection to the Book
Although it has little to do with the “always sick” theory, I found something else interesting that was included in the excerpt. The quote goes as follows:
“Hammond also concealed from prospective investors the fact that the elephant’s behaviour had changed substantially in the process of miniaturisation. The little creature might look like an elephant, but he acted like a vicious rodent, quick-moving and mean-tempered. Hammond discouraged people from petting the elephant to avoid nipped fingers.”
This means that although Jurassic Park did as much as it could to contain the animals, it knew that they would eventually have a turn for the worse and tend towards violence. Still, they decided to open the park to civilians anyway. Isn’t that a scary thought?
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TL;DR
- The dinosaurs in Jurassic Park (1993) all seem to have some kind of cold and blocked nose.
- This actually links to the Jurassic Park books, where it mentions that the genetic creations were prone to colds, especially during winter.