Dinosaurs

* As an amateur dinosaur paleontologist, I was enthralled by Steven Spielberg’s uncanny adaptation of Michael Crichton’s “Jurassic Park.” The movie faithfully followed Crichton’s ominous tale of mankind tampering with nature, while bringing incredibly realistic dinosaurs to the screen. While The Times’ coverage debates the intensity of the film and its effect on children, the public reaction to this summer’s blockbuster is indisputable. Within two weeks, “Jurassic Park” has garnered over $120 million. The post-movie merchandise madness may well top $1 billion, fueled by an additional advertising budget of $68 million. Yet, in spite of these exorbitant figures, few of the entertainment dollars will be returned to vertebrate paleontology, the science that really brought the dinosaurs back to life. In comparison, the yearly budget for dinosaur research amounts to a mere $1 million.

The recent layoffs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History confirm the dwindling interest and support in basic science and research. Since January, staff members, curators and lab technicians have been laid off in droves due to a shrinking county budget. Museums are more than static exhibits built for wide-eyed schoolchildren. Curatorial collections numbering in the millions are used worldwide to compare past and present life on Earth. Without public and private funding, vertebrate paleontology (the study of backboned animals, including the dinosaurs) may become an endangered profession, in spite of the current dino-mania. And while LACM is not a dinosaur hotbed, the renewed importance of paleontology in the understanding of evolution and mass extinctions is cause enough to justify scientific research in non-dinosaurian paleontology. Although we may glorify the paleontologists digging up new bones in the Badlands, substantial work lies in interpreting the fossils we already have.

Craig Black’s request to dismantle the world-renowned Allosaurus and Camtosaurus exhibit in the LACM lobby may indeed be signaling the extinction of the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum. The once planned Dinosaur Hall will never come to fruition. S. JASON HATAKEYAMA

Volunteer, Vertebrate

Paleontology Department

Natural History Museum of L.A. County