Updating Jurassic Park

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Majin Gojira
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Updating Jurassic Park

Post by Majin Gojira »

Something I've been toying around with for some time and I wanted to get some input from you guys.

Jurassic Park was, at the time, revolutionary in changing the public perception of Dinosaurs in our minds. But that was about 30 years ago, and we've learned a lot since then.

Also, we're going to expand the park overall beyond just one dinosaur tour and look at the non-dinosaurian "Living Fossils" that could be brought into the island with minimal expense to keep the "Jurassic" feel of the place intact, as well as look at the inspiration for Isla Nublar (The Cocos Island) to see what could be running around there before InGen moved in.

The Island

Before InGen Got there, animals were on the island. In the books, there are species of frogs, leeches, large tarantulas, and opossum (the Common Opossum most likely) that made it on the island. Frogs getting to an island that remote is a little wonky, but I'll roll with it for now. The Cocos islands themselves are already a biological preserve for various endemic species: an Anolis, a Gecko, and several endemic birds (the Cocos Cuckoo, Cocos Finch, and Cocos Flycatcher), with another 90 species of birds flying to the island and back on various journies (mostly seabirds like Pelicans). Most of the diversity is for ants and other arthropods, but we'll gloss over them for now.

Also, in reality, there are populations of feral pigs deer, goats, cats, and rats. The books only acknowledge the rats. These are likely to be killed for the Dinosaurs (or the Dinosaurs may kill them, depends on the species after all).

Since the book added so many less hardy (for sea voyages) animals to the island, I feel no compulsion against adding a few hardier species. The Water Opossum (a semi-aquatic opossum in an otter-like niche) and the mouse opossum right off the bat. Followed by the Central American Agouti, Northern Tamandua, Nine-Banded Armadillo, Brown-Throated Three-Toed Sloth, Hoffman's Two-Towed Sloth, the Central American Dwarf Squirrel, and there are about a hundred species of bat native to Costa Rica, so a few of them could easily have come over (including the vampire bat).

There are three birds that, if not already on the island or attracted to it, would likely be brought in by InGen to aid their animals: The Bronzed Cowbird, the Cattle Tyrant, and Yellow-Headed Caracara. These birds are all insectivores who eat ticks and other animals attracted to (or stirred up by) large animals. They do so for Capybara, modern cattle, and probably did so for the old Megafauna. So, they'd do the same for Dinosaurs. Definitely a concern for the park.

But the park also did dumb things, like in the book, they cloned and released giant dragonflies to give it more of a Jurassic 'feel' in addition to bringing in poisonous plants to places near people.

So, what would be done along those lines here?

Tinamou.

Tinamou are palaeognathid birds (related to Ostriches and Emus) and are close in look and niche to the type of bird that survived the KT boundary. They are chicken-sized birds that live in jungles, eating fruits, plants, and small animals. The order of birds itself goes back 10 million years, so they can fit right in.

Capybara would be in as well. These days we know of prehistoric mammals that got nearly as big living alongside the dinosaurs (.9m vs 1.3m), and because they are so docile, they can be put in with any dinosaur exhibit to make the dinosaurs look even bigger.

The Park

Behind the Scenes

Rats were talked about on the island before as a feral induction (among the other feral animals). It's likely that other food animals would be shipped in to feed the various beasties. Now, a smart park wouldn't feed them mammals as to try and mitigate the whole 'people eating' thing. But, with animals that large, it's hard to find good substitutes.

The core animal-food would be Chicken, Turkey, Arapaima, Fathead Minnows, Tilapia, Poecilia. Debatably Goat and Cow could be used, but it runs the risk of giving them a taste for mammal meat.

See, A T. Rex would likely need about 40,000 calories a day to get by. That would be about 6 Turkeys, or 5 Arapaima (at 100kg a pop). In beef, it's a lot simpler. Just give it a cow and call it a week. Especially since it'd eat the bones.

Living Fossils

There's a lot that large safari-parks can do, even when holding multiple megafauna, on a smaller scale. That was never really brought up in the franchise, but it's an area worth exploring, and doing so would be rather cheap compared to other aspects of the park. Basically, take 'living fossils' and use them for various displays to enhance, add atmosphere, or just fill in space. These would mostly be reptiles and mammals, with other classes of organism having their own locations (Aviary and Aquarium, respectively).

Some of the animals could come from Costa Rica and nearby wild areas. Focusing on Land Animals for the moment, they could easily include Capybara, Tinamou, Agouti, Nine-Banded Armadillo, Tamandua, Sloth, and opossum species with minimal effort.

Other mammals that they could import would include Treeshrews, Aardvarks, Greater Mouse Deer, Black and Rufous Elephant Shrews, Tapirs, Chacoan Peccary, Solenodon, Giant Anteater, Platypus, and Short-Beaked and Long Beaked Echidna.

Some would only need one example (Tapir, Aardvark, and Giant Anteater) while others could be in group enclosures. Or, depending on species temperament, included with Dinosaurs for "authenticity".

Among reptiles, they could easily include Tuatara, Aldabra Giant Tortoise, Gila Monster, Green Anaconda, Komodo Dragon, House Gecko, Long-tailed skink, Green Iguana, Black Spiny-tailed Iguana, Basilisk, and Boa Constrictor.

Given the precedent set by the unadvertised Meganerura (seriously the thing is said to have a 6ft wingspan!), it is possible that InGen might tinker with the genetic codes of these animals to make them more 'fitting' to their "Biological Preserve." This may include giving the Tuatara 'tropical adaptations', and messing with the size genes of the Aldabra Tortoise and Komodo Dragon, in order to effectively re-create extinct species (Megalochelys a 1-ton Tortoise, Megalania the monster-sized monitor lizard).

The Aquarium

The book park had a central lake and river cruise ride. The movies had a mosasaur paddock and river cruise ride. We'll keep the cruise, but have an Aquarium instead. A lot of aquatic animals fall under the category of Living Fossils. This is where the majority of 'species' can be found.

The first section would be a 'journey through time, that would start with simple animals and move into more complex ones down the line. It would have Tunicates, Lancelets, Sea Pens, Sea Spiders, Sponges, Corals, brachiopods, Jellyfish, Crinoids, and Barnacles to start with.

Further down the exhibit, things would get more 'advanced' with Triops/Fairy Shrimp (which are also available to own via the gift shop), Brittle star, a Bobbit worm, flatworms, sea urchins/pencil urchins, Sea cucumber, Nautilus, Horseshoe Crabs, Chiton, etc.

The Fish would all be prehistoric. Rays, sharks, guitarfish, Sawfish would, of course, be presented, largely of freshwater or 'mixed' persuasions. Other fish included would be Bichir, Paddlefish, Sturgeon, Lungfish (South American and Queensland), Gar (Tropical and Alligator), Coelocanth (again, modified for the park to fit in with the other animals), Bowfin, Arapaima, and Silver Arowana. Other, more modern, fish, could be found in the park as feeder animals -- Talapia, Poecilia, and Fathead Minnows.

Of these, there is also a 'fishing hole' where specimens are placed for sport fishing. Arapaima is a prized gamefish (and food fish).

The Next Subsection would be "The Coal Age" where a greenhouse would re-create a Carboniferous environment, with plants and animals to fill in for what was, with a few add ons.

Here, Amphibians like the Greater Siren, Midwife Toad, New Zealand Primitive Frog, Aquatic Caecilians, and tropical modified Giant Chinese Salamanders would be int he waterways that the visitors would walk around. Above them beyond the caged corridor, are more 'false de-extinction' GMOs filling in for extinct animals" A Goliath Bird-eating spider fills in for "Megarachne" as does a similarly sized Solifugae/Camel Spider (yes, they made the monster from urban legends. This is InGen we're talking about here). Arthropleura is recreated with a 1m Millipede (a modified Archispirostreptus gigas which normally reaches 1/3rd that length); a "Pulmonoscorpius" from a modified Emperor Scorpion which is 70cm long; a "Griffon Fly"/"Meganeura" with a 65cm wingspan; a cockroach 40cm long; and a Centipede derived from the Giant Centipede (26cm) that similarly roughly triples the length for 'prehistoric-ness' (to 80cm).

Recipe for trouble? Absolutely!

The crowning achievement of the Aquarium are proper cloned animals, so I'll save them for later.

After this, aquatic prehistoric reptiles rule the day, with a Olive Ridley's Sea Turtle, Pig Nosed Turtle, Alligator Snapping Turtle, and American Alligator to act as bigger draws.

Among them, as an even bigger draw, is a GMO reptile, is a Green Anaconda grown to the size of Titanoboa (which we now know is largely aquatic).

The biggest draw is saved for the cloned animal list at the end.

The Aviary

Bird is the Word! Here, some 'prehistoric' local birds would be kept along with some cloned fun.

Of the modern 'prehistoric' birds, there's Tinamous of different varieties than found in the park (There's like a dozen species), Seriema, the California Condor (on which they are gearing up to clone to aid the animal's population), magpie goose, mousebirds, bearded breeding, broad-billed Spaayoa, and Hoatzin.

The Clones

Here's the real money maker, and money drain, in the park. It took me some time to figure out how many true cloned animals (as opposed to the 11 GMOs in the park already). Over its incarnations, the parks have had roughly 21 to 41 species depending on the form it takes. I'll go with the average of the two: 31. You'll see why in a moment.

The Aquarium

There are three cloned animals in the Aquarium of Jurassic Park. The first is small and adorable. Halzkaraptor, the dinosaur duck. Small, fluffy, you'd think they'd make a good mascot if they didn't hiss anytime a human got near. They do not like people.

The second is a more recent dinosaur extinction, the Great Auk. Brave to a fault, they are the Mascot Animal of the Aquarium, or at least the one that can be shown to the public without an electrified fence.

Finally, there's Spinosaurus. This gigantic fish-eating, largely aquatic dinosaur is the icon of the aquarium and largest carnivorous dinosaur they have. TIny back legs, webbed feet, flattened tail -- it's a very odd-looking animal, but it's massive head and large claws make it very dangerous. It is the Aquarium and River Ride's main attraction, as its enclosure touches on both. However, only a fence keeps visitors safe on the river cruise...

The Aviary

Here there are 7 cloned animals. The Carolina Parakeet, Passenger Pigeon, and Upland Moa are the 'recent' de-extinction projects. These animals are part of a rather nasty plot to make more money by offering to properly de-extinct these species for America and New Zealand... if they can afford to.

The prehistoric animals cloned are Microraptor, Ambopteryx, Ceredactylus, and Quetzalcoatlus.

And man, Microraptor is probably the nicest of the lot. A tree-climbing glider, it's a little skittish, but otherwise, nice.

Ambopteryx, the largest Scansauriopteryx, is a true "Dragon" in that it has batlike wings and will upchuck stomach acid/oily goo at things it doesn't like. It smells, it burns, and can blind if it hits the face.

Ceredactylus will dive bomb things that enter its territory, as well as poo on them.

And Quetzalcoatlus? Be glad there's only 1. A Giraffe sized stork, it has tried to eat people before the park opened up, and it's big enough to do it.

The Park

10 Slots down, 21 to go.

Sauropods

The biggest animal in the park is Apatosaurus. Growing up to 16.5m long, and weighing about 18 tons, this animal is big, pretty dumb, but also more armed than InGen thought. First, obviously, its tail. This whip can crack like one, and hit pretty hard to boot. Its arms have a large claw which, when trying to stomp something it doesn't like, can do a lot of damage. And then there's the neck -- the bottom of the animal's neck is lined with two rows of small spikes. The thick neck can be used as a climb to slam things, with the spikes doing a bit of damage on top of the massive slam. It is able to run at about 16mph and they like to travel long distances when they can, making the sauropod paddock the largest in the park -- which is why it's shared with other sauropods.

Saltasaurus is ... annoying in some ways. You know the whole "Sauropods lived in water to support their immense weight" thing that was debunked ages ago? Saltasaurus does that. They have scutes along their torsos heavier than those of crocodiles acting as body armor. They retreat to the water if they are scared, and are decent at moving in water, but feed on land during the evenings. Only weighing in at about 6 tonnes, it is a little taller than a large elephant at the shoulder, but the neck and tail add a lot of its 'size'. It also has the sonic whip tail.

Euhelopus is an asiatic sauropod that is a true high browser, reaching up 7 meters (22ft) up without much effort. It's heavy (17 tonnes), and generally passive, but is willing to kick things it doesn't like. And because it's so heavy, one kick can kill a man.

Therapods

Tyrannosaurus rex, the tyrant lizard king. Powerful, dangerous, smart, and ... they hunt in family units. Yes, really. There are 4 "Sisters" in the park, and they work all eat together. They 'hunt' like harris hawks. There's face-biting among them as a form of social display. It's light, and 'playful', but JP staff fear it could lead to infection if things go wrong. Also, hawk-eyed and bloodhound nosed. A very dangerous animal, made more dangerous by cooperation. Top speed? 17mph, but it has stamina that puts wolves to shame (like al dinosaurs).

Therizinosaurus - This massive dinosaurian ground sloth is not afraid to defend itself with its massive 3ft long claws and really, that's pretty bad all by itself.

Deinocheirus - A giant omnivorous ornithomimid, this duck-mouthed, humped backed, feathery weirdo can kill a person if it's too indelicate with its claws or bill.

Carnotaurus - THis horned devil is a dinosaurian cheetah, this 1.3-tonne monster can run 35mph (faster than a Rhino of similar weight). Worse, it's jaw and neck allow it to make quick chopping bites or hitting grabs as needed. So it can run up, grab a person, shake them to death, and then open its gullet and swallow a person whole.

Dilophosauurs - Imagine the movie monster, but remove the frill and replace it with a throat sack (So it spits more like Otrachi from Pacific Rim), and it's only a little shorter than a man, and some 20ft tall. If it stands all the way back, it can easily tower over a man.

Gallimimus - A simple ostrich-mimic, right? Nope! This 1.9/6ft tall feathery fiend has the personality of a goose. If they don't like something, they will puff themselves up, splay their feathery arms, and move towards it -- and peck/kick it until it runs away or dies.

Dakotaraptor - Dakotaraptor is basically as big as the movie monster Velociraptor. Keep them as smart as the movies/books, but now they are feathery fiends. The juveniles can full on 'hop-fly' when spooked, while adults can use their half-wings to assist in climbing vertically and enhancing leaps just a little bit more (as well as breaking falls, naturally).

Anzu - The lyre-bird of the dinosaur world. It mimics calls, cries, and voices, to lure prey or scare things away. They also can travel with raptors like crows do with wolves. An omnivore, and about as tall as a man.

Sinosauropteryx - The compys of JP, but now in fluffy Coati colors!

Ornithopods

Triceratops - Triceratops hasn't changed TOO much, other than the shape of his horns (they have an upturn to them), and having small feather-spikes on its back on top of some dense scale armor. So it's armored in front and in back.

Ankylosaurus - Aside from being a tank of an animal, it's both a goat -- eating anything it can rasp up with its beak and horned tongue -- it's a digger. The animal digs big holes to lay in at night so only its armor protrudes like a big lump. The tail remains free. it's stiff about 1/3rd of the way down making it a VERY dangerous weapon.

Edmontosaurus - It looks like this. No one expected that many skin flaps/folds. They tend to get parasites in them, hence the tick birds.

Stegosaurus - Is far more flexible than InGen expected. Ya know, like this. Though it has a longer neck than is portrayed in that clip (and slightly larger head), and it can flush the plates to turn them red and make a more frightening display. it'd rather display, but it will strike with that thagomizer, and given their size and its size, they are extremely deadly.

Parasaurolophus - This thing is LOUD. Like "You can hear it across the entire island and it riles up the Rexes" loud. "It shakes the enclosure lose regularly" loud, and "It can deafen a man if they're too close and pissed off" loud. And maybe brown note a person. They haven't seen it do it yet, but some people worry...

Pachycephalosaurus - Sure, they headbutt, and ram anything else they don't like too. They also prone and pose until they reach headbutting age, because they have spikes on their heads that slowly morph into a dome as they grow up. So, when a baby head-rams something, it usually dies.

Thescelosaurus - A rather typical small ornithopod, deer-sized, but one with armor along its back and they live in burrows, which is not something they originally prepped for.

Protoceratops - Another unexpected burrower! Its powerful beak is its main defense, but it also has a hollow reed-like feathers long its tail that it will rattle when it's upset.

Nanosaurus - This dog-sized animal is being readied to be groomed to be an 'animal ambassador', the main problem being it's a stinker. I mean, it smells like a compost heap. Not as bad as the Sauropods do (because their gut actually is partly a composite heap), but enough that it takes some time to get used to.

Summarizing Thoughts

Obviously, I'm looking for comments here -- what should be dropped, added, replaced, etc. What did I overthink? What did I underthink?

And how much worse would this setup make its collapse?
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Re: Updating Jurassic Park

Post by LadyTevar »

I think you've put a lot of thought into this, and at this point I can't really improve on it.

No, I take that back... why keep the Parasaurolophus if it's that loud and riles up the Rexes?
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Re: Updating Jurassic Park

Post by Majin Gojira »

LadyTevar wrote: 2020-05-12 01:24am I think you've put a lot of thought into this, and at this point I can't really improve on it.

No, I take that back... why keep the Parasaurolophus if it's that loud and riles up the Rexes?
With each dinosaur, I was trying to think of something to work with the chaos factor that helped bring the park down (because the park has to go down, it's narrative law!). I may have gone too far for the Parasaurolophus with them riling the rexes.

Given that they otherwise have a beautiful singing voice (for something that deep and alpine-horn-ish), it would balance things out a little, but maybe not that much.
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Re: Updating Jurassic Park

Post by The Romulan Republic »

Majin Gojira wrote: 2020-05-12 12:44pm Given that they otherwise have a beautiful singing voice (for something that deep and alpine-horn-ish)
No kidding:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=QtpSOpUDCb8

That's a recreation of what one of these beasties might have sounded like. It is like a more haunting, alien version of whale song.
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Re: Updating Jurassic Park

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Majin Gojira wrote: 2020-05-12 12:44pm With each dinosaur, I was trying to think of something to work with the chaos factor that helped bring the park down (because the park has to go down, it's narrative law!). I may have gone too far for the Parasaurolophus with them riling the rexes.

Given that they otherwise have a beautiful singing voice (for something that deep and alpine-horn-ish), it would balance things out a little, but maybe not that much.
I thought you were improving on it, not setting it up to follow the narrative.
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Re: Updating Jurassic Park

Post by Solauren »

Improving it - No Carnivores until we've controlled the dinos for 10 years without a problem.
Alt - T-Rex paddock on it's own back-up power generator, independent from computer systems. No Raptors

Chaos Theory Narrative follow - Add aerial survillance drones with weapons. (Nedry can hack those to cause havoc)
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Re: Updating Jurassic Park

Post by Majin Gojira »

LadyTevar wrote: 2020-05-13 07:06pm I thought you were improving on it, not setting it up to follow the narrative.
Not quite.

I wanted to improve both the park itself as a park, and update the scientific understanding of the animals to modern standards because it's been almost 30 years since it came out.

So the overall Frankenstein story remains the same, it just has a bit more depth to it, and updating some of the science. I mean, I included the killer centipedes from Lost Tapes and an enhanced version of an animal known to be able to reproduce via parthenogenesis for that purpose.

But if you want to expand it to make the park actually function, there's a few things that can be done.

First off: Spot Training.

This is a form of zoo training given to all animals (of certain intelligence -- up to Gator level intelligence). This allows them to get the animal out in the open for visual inspection, prepare it for checkups, and generally get the animal where you want it to go.

Do you need to clean the cage? Spot training allows you to call an animal over to one spot so keeps can come in to clean up after it safely.

Is the animal in need of a checkup? Spot training brings it to a spot where it can be looked over easily, without darts or stress.

Do you need to cut off some callous growth to keep the animal healthy? Spot training is the first step to get them where you can clean them up -- or get them on a treadmill to get in the walking distance they need to now get clubfoot.

And so on.

Second off: TOYS!

One of the biggest problems for animals is the need for stimulation. In their natural environment, they'd be finding food, walking long distances, etc. Toys help fill in that stimulation. This can range from hiding food in different places throughout an enclosure that they can find, to actual toys.

Of the toys, there's treat puzzles (like a hollow ball with one hole that has a few treats in it, so they have to roll the ball to get the treat out), there's pull toys (like this one of A lion playing tug of war with a kids soccer team, and, of course, crush toys. Like bones to gnaw on or squeeze toys.
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Re: Updating Jurassic Park

Post by Solauren »

Other 'Make the part viable' additions

General Thoughts
#1 - No Carnivores until we've had 10 years of controlling the larger, powerful Dinos. as adults. You know, the ones that hold off the carnivores.
That way, we know the power needed for handling those creatures. We'd know how strong a living Triceratops skull-shield and neck was, how strong Ankylosaurus and Stegosaurus tails were, etc. We upgrade our control systems to surpass that by at least x5.

#2 - Tracking/Knock out system from Jurassic World. I actually wondered why, when watching the first Jurassic Park, why they didn't have shock collars as well. Put them someplace where if the Dino rips them out (i.e like the Indominitous does in JW1), it also releases something into their blood stream to knock them out

#3 - Toys are to include human dolls that smell human, but taste absolutely horrible, deliver really nasty electric shocks to them, and make them seriously sick if they eat part of it. (It's called adversion therapy)

#4 - In the novel, the Game Warden (Muldon) wanted to upgrade all the weapons, and the lead scientist wanted to redo the dinosaurs to a new, more controllable version. In this case, we listen to the Game Warden, and refine the proposed redesign to replace our current stock as needed.

#5 - Go through similar science-fiction (anything involving dinosaurs, monsters, etc), including fan-fiction, looking for problems they ran into, and assume it could happen in the park, and build in a counter.

#6 - Power failure? All fences have redundant power sources, with enough battery power to run them for a week.

#7 - Hackers lose on the system? Manual over-rider switches, and everything is physically wired to make unplugging a viable option.

Specifics -
Computer Systems -
#1 No outside contracts. Buy a firm, run background checks on the employees, and they are now our IT department. We also continue other outside projects, thereby creating another another revenue stream until the Park is profitable.

#2 All major systems are own their own subnetwork, that can not be disabled remotely. That was piss poor design.
(Note: I am actually blaming them on Nedry. The more I think about it, the more I think he was intending to sell our Hammond, once he found out what was going on, and that he wasn't being paid according to what he was working on)
.. It's one thing to be able to monitor the T-Rex paddock by remote, it's another thing to be able to disable it.

#3 No outside network access, of any kind. If this means custom hardware built to not be compatible with existing hardware, fine. Can't hack a network if you can't connect to it. If the company that made our hardware starts producing it for to others, cancel all contracts, get someone else to redo our systems, and use the original manufacturer into oblivion. Better yet, after a few months of profitable operation, buy them to secure the specs and manufacturing.

IT Staff will have to live on the island.

#4 In case of computer failure, everything can be controlled manually/via analog. It will just require staff to go to exhibits into control booths, instead of working from a central location. Local control booths are a good idea anyway.

Exhibit Security -
#1 - Clearly marked shelters the animals can't get into or damage near all exhibits, just in case. Possibly connected to each other via an emergency tunnel system. T-Rex breaks out? Head to the nearby underground tunnels it can't get to.

#2 - Armed guards at the exhibits. T-Rex tries to escape, and the existing systems are not working? Put her down (knock out drugs).
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Re: Updating Jurassic Park

Post by chimericoncogene »

Enclosures with physical barriers - e.g. large pits for the dinosaurs, similar to those used in existing zoos, instead of (or at least in addition to) fail-deadly electric fences.

Decreased vegetation density in habitats, both for an improved visitor experience (I paid two thousand dollars to see dinosaurs, not rustling bushes!) and for simpler control (allowing animals to be easily monitored at all times).

Emergency bunkers for use in the event of a serious accident.

Petting zoo for kids, more concessions stands, proliferated drinking fountains and restrooms, covered walkways (for rain and sun protection), air-conditioned observation decks, and maps with recommended routes. Indoor paleontology/geology/natural history museums for those rainy days.

Cruise terminal, luxury holiday resort with pool and casino facilities (private island, lax jurisdiction). Guided tours for kids, so they can see the animals while the parents spend all day at the casino.
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Re: Updating Jurassic Park

Post by Tribble »

Solauren wrote:
Specifics -
Computer Systems -
#1 No outside contracts. Buy a firm, run background checks on the employees, and they are now our IT department. We also continue other outside projects, thereby creating another another revenue stream until the Park is profitable.

#2 All major systems are own their own subnetwork, that can not be disabled remotely. That was piss poor design.
(Note: I am actually blaming them on Nedry. The more I think about it, the more I think he was intending to sell our Hammond, once he found out what was going on, and that he wasn't being paid according to what he was working on)
.. It's one thing to be able to monitor the T-Rex paddock by remote, it's another thing to be able to disable it.

#3 No outside network access, of any kind. If this means custom hardware built to not be compatible with existing hardware, fine. Can't hack a network if you can't connect to it. If the company that made our hardware starts producing it for to others, cancel all contracts, get someone else to redo our systems, and use the original manufacturer into oblivion. Better yet, after a few months of profitable operation, buy them to secure the specs and manufacturing.

IT Staff will have to live on the island.

#4 In case of computer failure, everything can be controlled manually/via analog. It will just require staff to go to exhibits into control booths, instead of working from a central location. Local control booths are a good idea anyway.
The novel goes into a lot more detail as to how the computers were setup. In a nutshell most of the problems with the design stemmed from InGen's secrecy; they hired Nerdy and his team to build the system but never told them what the systems they were designing were for. Then Hammond blamed Nedry for the inevitable bugs and essentially blackmailed him into fixing them for free. No wonder why Nedry wanted to get even.

The novel also points out that the ability to shutdown the park's security systems was a backdoor Nedry put in place just in case Hammond screwed him over (which he did). It wasn't really a hack so much as a set of built in commands from the start, which given that he was the lead programmer was not hard to do. Between the ~2 million lines of code, everyone being focused on all the other legitimate bugs and no sense of foul play (unlike the movie where it's obvious Nedry is a bad guy with every moves he makes) it's not a surprise that they didn't really catch on.

Edit: Arnold did notice that the security only ran on main power and it was near the top of the list of things to fix, but did not suspect it was a deliberate design flaw on Nedry's part.
Solauren wrote: Exhibit Security -
#1 - Clearly marked shelters the animals can't get into or damage near all exhibits, just in case. Possibly connected to each other via an emergency tunnel system. T-Rex breaks out? Head to the nearby underground tunnels it can't get to.

#2 - Armed guards at the exhibits. T-Rex tries to escape, and the existing systems are not working? Put her down (knock out drugs).
My main change would be to make sure that the exhibits have passive safety features like moats and walls rather than something active like an electric fence (there's a plothole in the novel where moats are specifically mentioned and Grant and the kids even have to go through one, but they are conspicuously absent when the T-Rex shows up.) The moats / walls would have to be bigger, on account for them being dinosaurs and all, but they should work fine.

Even the Deinonychus Raptor's Den shouldn't be much of a problem. In the film it was already fully enclosed with concrete walls but the weak point was the electric fence; when turned off the Raptors were apparently able to jump onto it the and bite / claw their way through. Perhaps instead use a thick bullet-proof glass strong enough to take them attacking it, make it flush with the concrete and angled so that they have no way of staying on it? Ditto with the retractable roof? Make the pit deeper and remove some of the vegetation? May have to make the building bigger to compensate and give them more room, but still...

Oh, and double gate everything and set it up so that one gate must remain closed at all times, just in case the Murdersaurus-Rex somehow tricks a hapless employee into opening one of the gates for its escape. :P

Really though the biggest problems with the park shouldn't be the security, but in just keeping the damned things alive in our modern environment.
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Re: Updating Jurassic Park

Post by Majin Gojira »

Solauren wrote: 2020-05-13 10:18pm Other 'Make the part viable' additions

General Thoughts
#1 - No Carnivores until we've had 10 years of controlling the larger, powerful Dinos. as adults. You know, the ones that hold off the carnivores.
That way, we know the power needed for handling those creatures. We'd know how strong a living Triceratops skull-shield and neck was, how strong Ankylosaurus and Stegosaurus tails were, etc. We upgrade our control systems to surpass that by at least x5.
From what I understand, an animal's diet doesn't really play into how easy they are to handle. The book itself goes into detail on how some animals are very good at escaping on their own, including ones you wouldn't suspect. Namely: Giant Armadillo, Orangutans, Pigs of all stripes, and Moose.

Also, from a book I read on Zoos, there are two things which they know are going to happen at zoos. Code 1 and Code 2.

Code 1 is a person getting into an enclosure with an animal.

Code 2 is an animal getting out of its enclosure.

1 is more common, but 2 does happen, and any Zoo worker will tell you, no matter how many layers, there's always a chance an animal will get out. So, you have to train your staff on recapture operations. This is also where animal training comes in handy.

And this is another point where InGen shot themselves in the foot. By trying to automate everything, they couldn't really run such systems. At least, not how modern zoos do it. And given the size of some of these animals, they'd need heavy equipment to move them around. Up to and including freight helicopters if they knock them out.

Finally, personality in animals plays a big part in their behavior. Some animals may be easy to get back into their cage, and others not, and it doesn't fully depend on their species, but their temperament.
#2 - Tracking/Knock out system from Jurassic World. I actually wondered why, when watching the first Jurassic Park, why they didn't have shock collars as well. Put them someplace where if the Dino rips them out (i.e like the Indominitous does in JW1), it also releases something into their blood stream to knock them out
The original Jurassic Park (Novel) was set in 1989, with the movie starting in 1993. The technology was not that great at the time (best they could do would be Invisible Fence dog collars). Worse, in the Raptor's case, they tried that and they kept ripping them off.
#6 - Power failure? All fences have redundant power sources, with enough battery power to run them for a week.
Powering that would be a challenge in and of itself. Not that the technology didn't exist, but meeting the power requirements of these massive fences is what I question.
Oh, and double gate everything and set it up so that one gate must remain closed at all times, just in case the Murdersaurus-Rex somehow tricks a hapless employee into opening one of the gates for its escape. :P
I am now picturing a horror scene where an animal is trying to get at a person who runs into the double gate, but the front gets smashed by something and can't close, so the dinosaur keeps trying to get at them, slowly breaking down the gate, and because the front can't open while the back is open, they're stuck.
Really though the biggest problems with the park shouldn't be the security, but in just keeping the damned things alive in our modern environment.
One of the TV special made to tie into Jurassic Park from NOVA back in the day had Robbert Bakker talking about how that would work. You'd have to monitor their health weekly if not daily in order for their immune system to catch up with all the pathogens as well as what help they can get breaking down modern food --plants in particular.

It's unlikely that the oldest dinosaurs could handle consuming hay like a lot of large mammals can today due to Grasses at the time being very primitive/not having the heavy silica content of modern grasses.

But we also have evidence of them eating super poisonous cycad species. Or dealing with other plants at that time that did have a high silica content.
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