If you're going to run a zoo, what's the most important thing? I am afraid that it is to provide a healthy and comfortable living environment for the animals in the zoo. Among them, the supply of sufficient and suitable feed is the top priority. No matter how strange the diet of these animals is, we have to try to satisfy their eating habits. Naturally, the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park are no exception.
No, the operators of The Jurassic Park, who are male (no) heart (zuo) strong (die), renamed the Jurassic Park on Nabral Island, which was destroyed by dinosaurs 22 years ago, opened it to tourists again, and once again raised a large variety and a large number of dinosaurs. So, how do the dinosaurs living in this theme park feed?
The newly opened "Jurassic World". Image source: nerdstar.de
Before we can prepare food for the dinosaurs, we must first understand what the dinosaurs ate. For carnivorous dinosaurs, other dinosaurs naturally serve as familiar "rations"; at the same time, they certainly won't mind using "junior" mammals as snacks - don't forget that there are not a few people who have been eaten by dinosaurs in the past two decades or so. Therefore, our attention is focused on those plant-eating dinosaurs.
Let's first take a look at the plant-eating dinosaurs that appeared in Jurassic World! In fact, instead of calling it "Jurassic World", it would be better to rename it "Mesozoic World". Because most of the dinosaurs inside are not from the Jurassic period. Examples include rhinoceros-like triceratops, tank-like ankylosaurs, and pachycephalosaurs with bald brains, all of which lived in the late Cretaceous period. Yes, the little short-handed Tyrannosaurus rex, which included the big fight in the park in the first movie, is also from the Cretaceous period. The plant-eating dinosaurs that really belonged to the Jurassic period mainly appeared, such as thunderstorms and stegosaurs.
Ankylosaurus actually came from the late Cretaceous period. Image source: imgbuddy.com
During the Jurassic period, the earth's land surface was mainly covered by gymnosperms and ferns. However, at this time, ferns that could grow to tens of meters high, such as scale wood and reed wood, have long been extinct. Walking during the Jurassic period, the forest was a tall tree, mainly coniferous and ginkgo biloba. In the middle of the forest, tree ferns begin to give way to cycads that also have large pinnate leaves, while low true ferns occupy the surface, covering the ground with lush greenery. So during this period, thunderosaurs used their comb-like teeth to "comb" the leaves from tall conifers and ginkgo biloba plants and swallow them, while slightly younger stegosaurus could enjoy cycads and ferns.
At that time, the light was gradually moving towards the Cretaceous, and the recipes of the dinosaurs did not change much, but a small "revolution" was quietly happening. Some small gymnosperms, no longer satisfied with their seeds "naked", wrapped the seeds in a leaf-like structure – the earliest angiosperms were born. After entering the Cretaceous Period, angiosperms suddenly began to flourish and evolved beautiful and fragrant flowers, attracting bees and butterflies that had just appeared at that time to pollinate them - compared to the "pollination of gymnosperms by the wind", I don't know how much more advanced. So in the middle and late Cretaceous period, flowering angiosperms began to replace the forest composed of pine, ginkgo and ferns, and gradually became the protagonist of the forest. So at the end of the Cretaceous period, dinosaurs struggled to maintain their gymnosperms and fern recipes, but they also had to start experimenting with these new "dishes".
The early angiosperm "archaefructus liaoningensis" (Liaoning Guguo) appeared at the end of the Cretaceous period. Image source: Wikipedia
So, if you want to feed the dinosaurs in Jurassic World, conifers, ginkgo biloba and cycads are indispensable, and if you can add some ferns, it would be better. So, how is Jurassic World doing?
In fact, it is not so much a theme park as "Jurassic World" is a "wild dinosaur park". In order to ensure the safety of tourists, the dangerous carnivorous dinosaurs are kept in captivity and fed by park administrators, while the less dangerous plant-eating dinosaurs are much freer - in order to increase the viewing pleasure and experience of tourists, they are basically in stock and can freely eat the plants of Nabral Island.
Free-range dinosaurs. Image source: jurassicpark.wikia.com
The problem, though, is that the vast majority of the plants on Nabral Island were not suitable for dinosaurs, so they don't necessarily eat well if they take a "stocking" approach.
Perhaps to simulate the generally hot, humid climate of the Jurassic period, Jurassic World took place on The Tropical Island of Nabral in the Pacific Ocean. However, the dense vegetation of this island is nothing less than a dangerous area of "poison overgrown" for dinosaurs. That's because angiosperms have a far better "skill" than gymnosperms and ferns, which is to synthesize a variety of secondary metabolites to fight against the animals that eat it.
Nabral Island is a typical tropical marine island. Image source: trailerheroes.com
For example, many of the tall trees on Nabral Island are eucalyptus, acacia and dragon's blood trees commonly found on Pacific islands. Even if dinosaurs can tolerate eucalyptus oil that smells strong and makes their stomachs sick, the legume alkaloids and plant lectins contained in the acacia tree, which are part of the legume family, are enough for the dinosaurs to drink a pot. Dinosaurs that fed on low plants in dense forests were not much better - the number of ferns in the forest was not much, but it was full of plants of the Tiannanxing family, plantain family and palm family, and the rich alkaloids and calcium oxalate contained in the stems and leaves of the Tiannanxing family were also a major challenge for dinosaurs.
The understory vegetation on Nabral Island is mostly plants of the Family Asteraceae and palmaceae, which are not suitable for dinosaurs to feed. Image source: jurassicworldintl.com
On the other hand, angiosperms have catheter and fiber differentiation, which is greatly enhanced in support and water transport functions compared to tube cells in gymnosperms and ferns. However, the cell walls of fibroblasts are strongly thickened and intensely lignified, making it difficult to digest and absorb. In particular, monocotyledonous plants such as agave, dragon's blood, plantain and palm have more fiber in their stems and leaves, so they have to sweat the stomachs of the dinosaurs that ate these plants.
A flock of bird-like dragons ran through a meadow. Notice the tall agaves in the vegetation behind you. Image source: Screenshot of the movie trailer
In addition, in the "Jurassic World", there are large grassland landforms. But realistically speaking, these grasslands have no effect on the dinosaurs themselves, except for tourists to play and observe dinosaurs without obstacles. Because as the main plant type of grassland grasses, although they appeared in the late Cretaceous Period, they could only be eaten in small quantities by dinosaurs because they contained too much silicon. The steppe, which also began to appear in the middle of the Paleogene century millions of years after the extinction of the dinosaurs, was not a suitable habitat for dinosaurs.
The stegosaurus and brachiosaurus in the picture do not have the opportunity to see the grass under their feet in reality. Image source: Screenshot of the movie trailer
Therefore, it seems that in the whole park, perhaps only the giant cedar forest that shows the predation of tyrannosaurs is suitable for plant-eating dinosaurs. However, in the forest where tyrannosaurs exist, who wants to stay?
From this point of view, the vegetation situation in the entire "Jurassic World" is actually not suitable for the free range and free feeding of dinosaurs. Therefore, for the health of dinosaurs, it is recommended to increase the planting or feeding of the following plants under the condition of reasonable assessment of the risk of invasive species:
Because tropical islands in the Pacific, especially in the eastern Pacific, are isolated from the mainland, conifers are often lacking. The giant sequoia in the Tyrannosaurus display area were probably transplanted from the west coast of the Americas for demonstration purposes. Therefore, it is recommended to expand the planting range of giant fir in appropriate areas and plant more pine and fir plants to simulate the forest landscape of the Jurassic-Cretaceous period.
Giant Sequoia. Image source: Wikipedia
As an ancient relict plant, there is currently only one species of ginkgo biloba in the world. Due to the slow growth rate of ginkgo biloba, it is not realistic to grow in large areas in the park. However, due to the beautiful shape of the ginkgo tree, the seeds also have many uses such as medicine and food, so it is more common to plant in East Asia, so it is recommended to import a large number of branches and leaves of ginkgo biloba for artificial feeding. As a big country in the cultivation of ginkgo biloba, China must seize this business opportunity.
Cycads and woody ferns are morphologically similar and can be cultivated as a mid-level plant in the park. At present, there are only a few tax groups such as quercetinaceae left in the world, but there are more than 100 species of cycads, which are still relatively rich. Woody ferns and cycads are mostly found in tropical and subtropical regions, so they are well adapted to the environment of Nabral Island. Therefore, it is possible to enrich the vegetation type in the park by introducing some cycads and woody ferns, and at the same time provide more abundant food for dinosaurs.
Plants of the family Quercus sylvestris. Image source: Wikipedia
Of course, for dinosaurs, angiosperms were not absolutely inedible. For example, in the fossil faeces of sauropod dinosaurs found in India at the end of the Cretaceous period, there are remains of angiosperms and even grasses, which proves that dinosaurs are also trying to change their diets to adapt to the increasing prosperity of angiosperms. However, the earth-shattering changes at the end of the Cretaceous period brought the efforts of the dinosaurs to an abrupt end, and the mammals, who were better at eating angiosperms, became the masters of the earth and in the movie theaters yy the world where the giant beast lived. (Editor: Bulbophyllum)
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