The dinosaur named after the ‘Jurassic Park’ cast
In 1993, Steven Spielberg raised the cinematic game with the first instalment of his Jurassic Park franchise. The movie was an immediate success with critics and audiences alike, grossing nearly $1 billion at the box office. The results made it the top-grossing film of all time until James Cameron raised the financial game once again, and by some margin, with 1997’s Titanic.
Jurassic Park introduced the fictional state-of-the-art theme park island created by Richard Attenborough’s John Hammond, a home to several species of dinosaurs recultured from an amber-preserved mosquito. The film follows the palaeobiologists Dr Ellie Sattler, Dr Alan Grant and Dr Ian Malcolm as they struggle to absorb the wonderment of the soon-to-open park.
Unfortunately for them, albeit fortunate for the viewer, the tour group find themselves running for dear life when the security of the enclosure is compromised. In a case of titanic irony, the resort that once asserted its safety measures is thrown under the merciless fires of mayhem before its gates even open to the public.
Spielberg’s first instalment was an unprecedented marvel that rightly claims its legacy as a milestone of cinematic ingenuity. However, whether the second movie, 1997’s The Lost World, should have been made is a matter of conjecture, let alone the protracted spiel of Jurassic World instalments.
Despite the capital-fuelled thirst for incessant gap-filling and artistic degradation, the 1993 opener holds a proud legacy intact. Beyond its state-of-the-art special effects and numerous world records set, the movie’s influence even extended to the paleontological world.
In 1974, palaeontologists discovered a previously undescribed dinosaur species under the Tianchisaurus genus, which translates to “heavenly pool lizard”. The species, found in the Toutunhe Formation in China, was traced back to the Late Jurassic period and underwent a nomenclature dispute of sorts in the paleontological community.
The word of revered Chinese vertebrate palaeontologist Dong Zhiming was ultimately accepted as the dominating authority, landing on Tianchisaurus as the genus name over suggested alternatives, Jurassosaurus, an informal name that paid hommage to Spielberg’s movie.
Restless patron of the arts and sciences as he is, Spielberg helped fund Chinese dinosaur research through the early 1990s. Thus, despite Zhiming’s dismissal of the genus name, he has allowed for the popularisation of nedegoapeferima as the official species epithet. The gibberish name derives most of its letters from the surname of the main cast members of the original film: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, Ariana Richards, and Joseph Mazzello. Thankfully, a few spare vowels were chucked in to help us on our way.
Watch the trailer for 1993’s Jurassic Park below.
