#jurassic james

[excessively-english-jd]

What do u mean sutures on the fossils? Those squiggles? How did they form, were they on the shell when it was a shell or are they part of the fossilization process?

Yep, those squiggly/wavy lines on the fossils are suture lines! Suture lines on ammonites show where chambers were connected to the shell wall! As ammonites grew they expanded their shells and added chambers, separated by septa. Where these septa contacted the outer shell wall, these sutures form.

Sutures can be quite diagnostic in ammonites, as different suture patterns are indicative of different groups.

[Source: Alex Strekeisen]

The iconic appearance of ammonites is of the outer shell; these sutures lie below this, so aren't always visible. Sometimes, however, the outer shell isn't preserved as well, and that's when you might find fossils showing suture lines. These happen particularly in cases where the ammonite has fossilised 'from the inside out'; meaning, crystallisation and petrification happened inside the chambers. Since these inner chambers are often anoxic environments, it's not uncommon for pyritisation to be part of their fossilization. That's how you get lovely specimens like those!

Here's one that I found a few years back for my dissertation!

[Source: Me! Brown areas are calcite, yellow is pyrite, and the white lines are the sutures!]

[excessively-english-jd]

OKAY SO THOUGHTS ON JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH!!

Actually... this was a solid fucking movie. I have to rate it above Jurassic World, because I actually watched the whole thing and nothing ruined it for me, but JW I have to turn off 15min before the end otherwise it pisses me off. The plot makes sense, is reasonably compelling, and I actually liked and cared about the characters!

The advertising for this is misleading. It claims to happen "at a research lab for the original park" which. I mean maybe it was but that's not when it's contextualised. What it actually is, is Wu's lab for creating and refining genetic hybrids, so we're going back to the Jurassic World logic of "there are not dinosaurs they're genetically engineered monsters", but this time without really pretending they're real dinosaurs. Which immediately made me much more okay with the premise, and makes a lot of sense.

The "genetics from living dinosaurs" thing was a little contrived, but not outside the realm of suspension of disbelief. Classic bit of capitalist bribery to get characters to the island makes sense, and I do enjoy that the palaeontologist is pretty much there just because he wants to see real living dinosaurs. Unfortunately... yeah. That trap would catch us.

I'm glad there wasn't a romance plot, or at least not an emphasised one. I loved the focus on family. Speaking of the family, I have seen whispers of people being mad about their inclusion, but they were great! The actors were good, the relationships were interesting, and I didn't hate the kids *coughs, glances at Zach and Grey*. Loomis was great, I loved his genuine awe and excitement at each dinosaur. It's actually kind of refreshing to see someone looking at these animals, even in somewhat dangerous situations, even the carnivores, and being excited and happy about it.

The pacing was really nice. There were quiet moments. There were moments of levity. Things were allowed to sit sometimes, and we weren't immediately shepherded off to the Big Bad. There were plenty of non-dino focused moments which helped the characters. There was good suspense, there was good horror. Some of the 'censored gore' moment were really interesting - RIP that guy eaten by the Quetz.

Some of their dino/pterosaur/prehistoric animal designs were really good too!! I enjoyed the Titanosaurs, speculative but fun. Their Quetz looked interesting. I LOVED the little Anuragnathus! I wanted more of him!!! There was also what looked like a brightly coloured Compy, that was awesome!! Aquilops was not as ugly as I was worried it would be!! I admire them for holding back from the raptors, that was a good choice, and the Mutadons were very interesting, though I would have loved more discussion of them and what they were made of. The D. rex was fine, could have done without him but meh.

The complaints I have - and there's a handful - are mostly small and nitpicky, and they're problems that don't destroy my enjoyment of the movie. So overall, actually, I rate this movie pretty well!! I enjoyed it, I thought it was good, I will probably watch it again!

[excessively-english-jd]

wha-

uhh, yeah? that's.... that's half the fucking point??? of the story???? this isn't a fucking hot take Reddit theory this is the actual genuine intent of the novel alongside being a criticism of capitalism's corruption of science what are you TALKING about why is THE FUCKING OFFICIAL MICHAEL CRICHTON FACEBOOK PAGE POSTING THIS???? HELLO???

[excessively-english-jd]

I am SO glad to see that Prehistoric Planet has reached people outside of the hardcore palaeontology community. That even people who are not deeply or semi-professionally interested in dinosaurs and other Mesozoic animals are watching these episodes, or even clips of these episodes, and enjoying them.

And they're enjoying them the same way I see people online enjoy other animal documentaries!! "Haha look at this weird dance, wiggling his tiny arms about!" "Awww, isn't she so cute, look at her little face!" "Oh my god I was so worried about the baby getting lost but they made it!!! Yay!!!" It's so wonderful and refreshing to see that being a general public reaction to dinosaurs.

I've seen clips and images and memes float across my dash from people who've never mentioned an interest in prehistoric animals before, and I've seen people talking about these dinosaurs and pterosaurs and plesiosaurs and mosasaurs just like they do any other animal, and that is exactly what I want for people to see and feel about these amazing creatures. Yes, some of them are kinda weird! Some of them are really cute! They were capable of being awesome, and funny, and clever, and cool, and sweet, and everything else under the sun. And isn't it amazing, that they once lived, and we can know these things?

And I've had people ask me questions, and they're not even necessarily wanting in-depth hard science, but they're seeing these things and wondering about the answers, showing genuine interest and curiosity which, at the end, can only lead to them learning.

I hope to god this shows TV executives and producers and companies that this kind of down-to-earth, realism-based, high-quality programme IS in demand, IS capable of doing well, and IS worth doing more of, and is worth doing for a general audience. I hope that BBC can start to get the budget to do more like this themselves, without having to rely on a company like Apple to shoulder the majority of their costs. And I hope beyond hope that this can finally bring the prehistoric world into the public view in the way that it deserves to be there.

[excessively-english-jd]

I dunno Microsoft, how many popular dinosaur film sagas do you actually know of?

[excessively-english-jd]

It's honestly really dumb the way news sites called Prehistoric Planet "woke" because it showed a gentle T. rex nuzzling its mate or raising its young instead of being an ultra-violent killing machine tearing apart everything in sight. As if they can't even comprehend the idea that dinosaurs were just animals. Real creatures just living their lives instead of snarling, stomping movie monsters.

Yeah it really is. It's all fuelling and fuelled by the rampant anti-science sentiment of the current times, and it's horrifying to see, but it does also really prove why genuine education on subjects like this can be so important. Prehistoric Planet is a step in the right direction, at least, and hopefully a stepping stone for many more to follow.

[excessively-english-jd]

Second Iteration

He wants to call someone; needs to hear a familiar voice, someone who understands. He could call Sarah. She’d probably understand – they’ve done their share of late-night wakeups and out-of-the-blue phonecalls, since Sorna and before it. It might not be as late for her, where she is. She’s his girlfriend, and he should be able to turn to her for support just as she should to him.

He doesn’t call Sarah. He reaches with a shaking hand to pick up his phone and his fingers move, by force of habit, to dial a familiar number.

“Malcolm?” Alan’s voice comes through the speaker, gritty and hoarse. “You alright?”

“No.” Ian says, then laughs weakly. “Ah, no, Dr Grant, I don’t- I don’t think I am.”

Read it here on AO3.

[excessively-english-jd]

When negative reviews on Rotten Tomatoes complain that Prehistoric Planet isn’t an ultra-violent fight-fest like Jurassic Fight Club:

~

It really does expose how much people just think of dinosaurs as Cool Monsters not Actual Animals, and what an impact dinosaur media of the past few decades has had on public perception of dinosaurs and palaeontology at large.