Jurassic Park's Scientific Accuracy - The ultimate thread

I know that this is nothing new, and probably a boring and overdiscussed discussion, but I have been browsing the net and found nothing on Jurassic Park's paleontological accuracy that would satisfy me. That being said, I figure I'd start it.

This discussion is dedicated to discussing the accuracy of the dinosaurs and other prehistoric critters of past, present and possible future films, making comparisons between films and the fossil record, as well as citing newer, more radical theories.

Let's start with:

Tyrannosaurus - Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way. We know T.rex's visual acuity isn't based on movement. In fact, scientists now claim that the Tyrant Lizard has better visual acuity than modern raptors (that's birds of prey to you). Other than that, I'd say the Tyrannosaur in the JP films are pretty accurate, save for the arm being a bit too long and slender, and that human-esque hindlimbs.

Velociraptor - Frankly, I'm tired of hearing people saying that the raptors are the most innacurate re-creation, citing the blunt snout and larger physique. I disagree. It's really quite obvious that the raptors in the film are based more on its close relative, Deinonychus antirrhopus. Therefore, I will mainly compare JP's 'Velociraptor antirrhopus' with its true real life counterpart 'D. antirrhopus'. 

Well, aside from the lack of feathers, and the ability to pronate their frontlibs (making their palms face the ground) I'd say the 'Velociraptors' are really quite accurate. As for their intelligence, the fossil record cannot predict how high their I.Q really was, so we can only speculate that real 'raptors' are as smart as JP claimed they were.

Spinosaurus - The big bad for JP III, I think Spinosaurus was depicted rather innacurately. Granted, the film was made before we had pieced together the evidence, as Spinosaurus was a very obscure theropod. The skull of JP's Spinosaurus looks like it was based on its close cousin Suchomimus. If you compare the heads of JP Spinosaurus and Suchomimus' skull, you'll see what I mean. Dentary shape and position and even the snout ratio looks quite identical. JP III's Spinosaurus also looked way to 'stocky', I imagine, based on fossil fragments and reconstructions, a real Spinosaurus would be more gracile and slender to aid it on its mainly aquatic lifestyle.

Brachiosaurus - Most people would point these out: Brachiosaurus can't stand on its hindlimbs, it couldn't chew its food like a cow, etc. Hell, some people even went as far as saying that the entire Sauropod clade couldn't sneeze, as the pressure would build up due to its extreme neck length, causing their tiny heads to explode! Personally, I think the sauropods, primarily Brachiosaurus, of the franchise are quite inacurate. I have to agree with what most people had to say. Additionally, Brachiosaurus probably did not have the vocal flexibility to create melodious, whale-like calls it made during its appearances on film. Instead, they would have probably made deeper, simpler grunts and bellows (though I prefer the whale-like calls, it sounded so beautiful).

Stegosaurus - Not much to say here, save for its gigantic size (Stegosaurus could never have grown into the size depicted in TLW, way too large for any Stegosaurus species).

Dilophosaurus - Another favourite for criticising JP's accuracy, the midget, venom spiitting, frill raising Dilophosaurus of the franchise made many raise an eyebrow or two. To me, the films meant to depict the Dilophosaurus in Jurassic Park as a juvenile, hence the shorter snout, smaller stature, and innacurate crest to head ratio. But I could be wrong, and the Dilophosaurus from JP are nothing more that simply Spielberg and Stan Winston having a little bit of fun.

Pteranodon - Another blatantly innacurate depiction (Jurassic Park III seems to have a lot of these) the 'toothless flier' had teeth in JP III, hence rendering the name 'Pteranodon' hypocritical. The film also depicted the Pteros snatching prey with their feet, which in reality are far too weak for carrying anything above a few kilograms. The beak was too straight, the lack of fur-like coverings, etc. In short, the JP III Pteranodon looked more like a B-movie monster than a well-researched representation. (I liked the TLW cameo, though.)

Tylosaurus - Since Jurassic Park: The Game is considered canon, I felt that we need to address this creature. The mosasaur form JP:TG was one of the biggest surprises of the game, I have to say, but it was also quite inaccurate. First of all the scales. Due to living underwater for its entire life, having jagged scales and keratinous spines along its back and tail will prove disadvantageous for it. A sea-dweller needs to be more slender, and stremalined, to allow smoother and more efficient cruising under the waves. The JP:TG mosasaur also had a symmetrical, paddle like tail. We now know that mosasaurs had a tail not dissimiliar to modern day sharks, albeit inverted. This means a second, distinct lobe was supposed to be present above the bottom lobe, forming a tail fin. 

So that's that. I'm sure I missed a lot of things, so that's why this discussion was created in the first place, to discuss and debate on the accuracy of the franchise. Feel free to say anything within the topic, cite any research or articles, or just speak your mind, or forever hold your peace.

Begin.