Jurassic Park and the Wrong Mosquito

In yet another slap to our childhood and a new chapter in the grossest movie mistakes, Jurassic Park was reviewed by science and didn't come off well because of a wrong mosquito. In this article, we explain why an entomologist says the premise of Jurassic Park doesn't make sense, at least from a strictly scientific point of view.

Impossible events, nonexistent instruments, temporal conflicts, fictional theories, and inexplicable physics are common currency in cinema, as sometimes a good idea can be completely ruined by a technical detail or scientific rigor that less than 1% of consumers will notice.

With decent scientific groundwork relative to the standards of the time, shown in research on dimensions, behaviors, lifespans, appearance, and diet, the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park correctly matched scientific consensus, except for some minor details (like the small velociraptors or misspelled names). However, an error in something tiny is now questioning the film where it hurts most: its argument. And the worst part is that the culprit is a mosquito.

The unlikely plot

The plot of Jurassic Park, as related to the protagonists by the creator of the fictional theme park, Lord Richard Attenborough, indicated that his scientists had found a mosquito petrified in amber, dating back millions of years. Their hypothesis was that if this mosquito had shared the habitat with dinosaurs, perhaps it had fed on their blood, and when petrified, the blood would still be inside its stomach.

So they did, and through a delicate process (which is actually almost impossible), the scientists found and extracted dinosaur DNA from the mosquito's bite, then used it to clone and create a wide variety of prehistoric animals to live in the park.

We all know the story gets complicated when the dinosaurs become uncontrollable and start devouring everything they find (including lawyers). But let's get back to the mosquito in question. Watching a rerun of the movie, entomologist Joe Conlon discovered the nightmare of any Jurassic Park fan and its fairly acceptable scientific correspondence. It turns out that although it's true that mosquitoes have been on Earth for over 170 million years and did feed on dinosaurs, the mosquito mentioned in the film is Toxorhynchites Rutilus, the only mosquito species that does not feed on blood.

While we wait for them to claim payment for Steven R. Kutcher, the entomologist hired to review the film scientifically, we learn that Conlon said that using any other species would have been accurate, and the film would only have to explain how DNA could remain stable and ready to be replicated after 80 million years. That and a few other things, but Jurassic Park is Jurassic Park, and since it was the best thing that happened in 1993, we forgive everything. Especially when the T-Rex steals the show.

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