Jurassic Park fan editorial shows what raptors would look like with scientific accuracy

Dinosaurs have changed since we were children. Having a four-year-old son means I’ve recently re-immersed myself in the world of these prehistoric beasts, much to the delight of my inner child and the dismay of my wife. I am here to tell you that we have been lied to. Not on purpose, of course. But it turned out that scientists simply did not have all the facts when the children of the 90s were growing up on “Jurassic Park”.

If you happen to be one of those kids, you’ll probably be a little surprised to learn that the T-Rex wasn’t completely covered in scales, as Steven Spielberg would have us believe, but at least had feathers. More precisely, how The New York Times As reported in 2019, it is now believed that the T-rex had sections of feathers “for display”. Moreover, back in 2007 a research confirmed for the first time that Velociraptors were also feathered dinosaurs, with scientists noticing “distinct signs of feather humps,” or “places where the quills of secondary feathers, the flight or wing feathers of modern birds, were attached to bone by ligaments.”

So, at least in the case of carnivores, these reptiles that graced our lunch boxes and lined our toy shelves weren’t really that scientifically accurate in terms of their appearance. Neither is Steven Spielberg’s opening dinosaur adventure. Jurassic Park may have changed movies foreverbut his illustration of velociraptors in particular is out of date by 2024. (Actually, Predators in “Jurassic Park” have never been so realistic (even though the film debuted back in 1993.)

Not that it all mattered. The film remains one of the greatest action-adventure films of the 20th century, and the specific physiognomy of the predators does not detract from the film’s relentless pace, advanced CGI, and Spielberg’s overall skill. But for those wondering what a scientifically accurate Jurassic Park would look like, there’s of course the internet, which has now given us a glimpse of what the movie might look like if it were based on the latest archeological findings.

YouTuber CoolioArt took the liberty of playing with Steven Spielberg’s classic by making 3D models of the feathered velociraptors and inserting them into the film. In particular, the VFX artist used the 3D graphics software Blender to create accurate 3D models of the dinosaurs known as Deinonychus, which served as the real inspiration for the “predators” in “Jurassic Park.” Real velociraptors were actually much smaller, about the size of a large chicken or fox, but Spielberg and company took inspiration from the much larger Deinonychus when creating the film’s image of the birds of prey.

Thanks to CoolioArt, who posted his latest creation on Twitter/X, we can now see what it might look like if the cast of Jurassic Park were threatened by a faithfully rendered Deinonychus during the climactic scene in the park’s ruined hotel complex — one of the greatest moments in “Jurassic Park”.

I did it again!

Jurassic park with apt raptors short part 2#Jurassic Park #blender3d pic.twitter.com/LKyGsNiLBa

— CoolioArt (@Coolio_Art) January 5, 2025

This is worth the previous one video from a VFX artist who also added his science-accurate ‘raptors’. the famous kitchen scene (which was even more dangerous than it looked)in which Lex (Ariana Richards) and Tim Murphy (Joseph Mazzella) are hunted by dinosaurs before trapping one in a freezer.

Jurassic Park with a SCIENTIFICLY ADVANCED Raptor!

(Link to full video below)#Jurassic Park #jurassic world pic.twitter.com/2nHdZ6NiO6

— CoolioArt (@Coolio_Art) December 24, 2024

For those wondering, CoolioArt also strongly hints that an accurate model of the T-rex will be released soon.

Do we need a scientifically accurate representation of Deinonychus in Jurassic Park. Of course not. Is it nice to see what such a thing would look like? of course. This really should be the end, but this is the Internet, and CoolioArt has drawn mixed reactions with its recent videos, from users praising the creator for doing “the work the studio needed to do” to those taking issue with the excessive “feather coverage” on Coolio 3D models. Then, of course, there’s the hotly debated topic of whether or not the dinosaurs in the movie really need to be accurate at all, since they’re all technically hybrids.

Other users debated whether the new “raptors” were more or less terrifying than the original versions. While the skull heads of these 3D models are undoubtedly ominous in their own way, their inherent fluffiness is inevitably less terrifying than the scaly beasts of Steven Spielberg’s original vision—which is important when you consider the predator scenes in “Jurassic Park” are some of the scariest in the movie.

However, regardless of what users have said, Coolio noted that the video succeeded in making the term “Deinonychus” popular. It’s all just cool and interesting, and certainly not something you should be too excited to comment – as one Twitter/X user did – “The movie is great as it is. Get over it.”