Steven Spielburg’s 1993 classic, Jurassic Park is the movie that brought so many kids’ dreams of seeing real, moving dinosaurs to life. Based on Michael Crichton’s book of the same name, Jurassic Park went on to spawn a massive franchise including five feature films, several animated projects from Lego, a Netflix animated TV series, and numerous video games and comic books.
The story of Jurassic Park focuses on a set of islands located near Costa Rica where wealthy benefactor John Hammond has figured out how to extract DNA from fossils in order to create living dinosaurs. He intends to turn the islands into a theme park attraction, but in the course of setting it up things go horribly wrong as the dinosaurs escape their enclosures and begin running free across the islands.
But, the part of Jurassic Park that keeps audiences coming back is the dinosaurs. From the highly intelligent Velociraptors to the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex, fans love the beautiful depiction of dinosaurs in the films using a combination of CGI and practical effects as both amazing creatures deserving of respect and monstrous killing machines that should be feared and avoided.
Velociraptor
The first dinosaur shown in Jurassic Park, and the highly intelligent antagonist of many different scenes throughout the original trilogy and the Jurassic World spinoff series is the velociraptor. In the original 1993 Jurassic Park, velociraptors are shown in the opening scene killing a trainer and spurring John Hammond to bring the scientists to his island to inspect it. They’re also the focus of Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler’s opening scene at their dig where they uncover the skeleton of a velociraptor.
Later, velociraptors appear once more as the creatures hatching from eggs in Dr. Henry Wu’s lab when Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler, and Dr. Malcolm visited for the first time, and again attacking Dr. Sattler and Robert Muldoon as they try to get the power at the park back on. Then, finally, once more as they attack Tim and Lex, chasing them around in the notorious kitchen scene.
In Lost World: Jurassic Park, the velociraptors appear again in the second act of the film, hiding in the tall grass as everyone is making their way across the island to safety. They then reappear, attacking Dr. Malcom, his daughter, and Dr. Harding as they enter the facility to find Nick. They remain the antagonists for the rest of the scene, until the trio is able to make it to a chopper and escape the island.
Brachiosaurus
In the big reveal scene when Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler arrive at Jurassic Park for the first time, the first dinosaur they see is the Brachiosaurus. The dinosaurs appear once again when Dr. Grant is asleep in the trees with Tim and Lex and awakes to find the dinosaur eating leaves nearby. Later, in Jurassic Park 3, a herd of Brachiosaurus are seen by Dr. Grant and the Kirby family at a river bank.
Parasaurolophus
The long-horned Parasaurolophus appears in the first Jurassic Park movie as part of the sweeping shot that reveals dinosaurs on the island. They appear once more on Site B, Isla Sorna as part of the stampede that the InGen hunters are driving through in Lost World. The hunters then shoot and capture one of the Parasaurolophus in that scene as well. In Jurassic Park 3, the Tyrannosaurus was seen eating a Parasaurolophus, and Eric Kirby’s search team runs through a mixed pack of Parasaurolophus and Corythosaurus as they are running from Velociraptors.
Dilophosaurus
Appearing only in the first Jurassic Park, Dilophosaurus is seen both as the first dinosaur in the tour and then again when Dennis Nedry is trying to escape. The Dilophosaurus pack attacks and kills Nedry in that scene, spitting acid in his face, an ability that does not exist in the real Dilophosaurus.
Tyrannosaurus Rex
Appearing in all three of the original Jurassic Park movies, the T-Rex serves as the major antagonist throughout all three films. However, in Jurassic Park 3, the T-Rex meets its match with the Spinosaurus, though its allowed to take its revenge in the Jurassic World series.
Triceratops
The Triceratops is another dinosaur used in all three of the original movies, first appearing during the initial tour of Jurassic Park as an ill female laying on her side near the tour route. The Triceratops appears again in Lost World as one of the dinosaurs caged at the InGen campsite when Hammond’s team visits, being freed and then ramming through Peter Ludlow’s projector screen. Then, in Jurassic Park 3, Dr. Grant saw a herd of Triceratops and pointed it out to his group as they travelled aboard the N622DC.
Gallimimus
Gallimimus appears as part of most mixed dinosaur herds in the first two movies in the original trilogy. They appear this way in the original Jurassic Park, and then are seen again in Lost World during the stampede hunting scene as part of that herd as well. They also appear in the scene when Dr. Grant, Tim, and Lex are making their way back to the visitor center and come across a herd of gallimimus exhibiting flocking behaviors.
Compsognathus
Compsognathus appear in Lost World and Jurassic Park 3, showing up in the opening scene to attack the young child of the wealthy couple. Then, one appears to Dieter Stark who shocks it with his cattle prod. Later, Stark is killed by a swarm of Compsognathus when he wanders off alone to urinate. In Jurassic Park 3, Compsognathus were present during the battle between the Spinosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex as the smaller dinosaurs ran for their lives.
Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus appears for the first time in Lost World, when Dr. Sarah Harding is taking photos of them and their nest. They are the first dinosaur shown in the film when everyone arrives on the island. Peter Ludlow's hunters captured both an infant and an adult Stegosaurus, who were later freed by Hammond’s team. Then, in Jurassic Park 3, Stegosaurus were briefly encountered twice by Dr. Grant and the Kirby family when they flew over Sorna and when they traveled through one of the rivers of Isla Sorna.
Pachycephalosaurus
Appearing exclusively in Lost World, Pachycephalosaurus appears as part of the stampede when the hunters are picking off and capturing dinosaurs. One was captured by the hunters, and then shown briefly escaping by utilizing its powerful domed head to head-butt one of the hunters before ultimately being captured by InGen and the set free by Hammond’s team, once caged.
Mamenchisaurus
Another dinosaur who only appears in Lost World, Mamenchisaurus appear during the InGen stampede. Two of the creatures walk out of the forest into the open field and Peter Ludlow is amazed by how large they are.
Pteranodon
First appearing briefly at the end of Lost World, Pteranodon play a larger role in Jurassic Park 3, when one snatches Eric Kirby off of the bridge leading to the Pteranodon enclosure. Eric spends a whole sequence with the Pteranodons as the creature drops him off by its nest of hungry babies. Later, Dr. Grant and the Kirby family encounter the Pteranodons on the aviary bridge as well.
Ankylosaurus
The Ankylosaurus appears for the first time in Jurassic Park 3. While Billy Brennan and the Kirby family were looking for Dr. Grant and Eric, a small group of Ankylosaurs passed by the forest they were in. Another herd of Ankylosaurus was briefly encountered near a river when Dr. Alan Grant and the Kirby family were passing by on a boat.
Ceratosaurus
Briefly appearing only in Jurassic Park 3, Dr. Grant and the Kirby family run into a Ceratosaurus on a riverbank as they were digging through Spinosaurus dung. While the group originally expected that the creature would attack them, it was deterred by the dung and left them alone.
Corythosaurus
In Jurassic Park 3, a herd of Corythosaurus and Parasaurolophus were grazing just outside of the InGen Compound as Dr. Grant, Billy Brennan, the Kirbys, and Udesky were being chased by a pack of Velociraptor.
Spinosaurus
Serving as the main antagonist of Jurassic Park 3, the final movie of the original trilogy stepped away from the T-Rex and moved up to an even larger predator, the Spinosaurus. During his time lost on Isla Sorna Eric Kirby learned that though Tyrannosaurus rex urine can scare off small dinosaurs like Compsognathus, it can also attract Spinosaurus. Dr. Grant and the rest of Eric’s rescue team spend most of the movie running from and trying to avoid this terrifying creature in the third movie of the original Jurassic Park trilogy.