Dr. Grant, my dear Dr. Sattler, welcome to Jurassic Park!
John Hammond, Jurassic Park
As you wake up, you find yourself in a comfy hotel room. Yesterday’s events come back to you: You had seen real dinosaurs in the lagoon and even saw terrestrial crocs hunt your ancestors in the Triassic Safari. Time to see some more dinosaurs.
After you have a small breakfast of a donut and coffee, you determine to go hiking in the jungle (of course, there are electrified fences all around and the animals are trained to not attack humans). Your friends think that this is a great idea and you grab some hiking stuff and venture out. As soon as you start walking on the trail, though, you hear something trill and whistle, almost like a bird. You see something flying a bit of a distance away and try to get a closer look. It’s a Microraptor, you recognize, by the shining black coat of feathers. Behind it trails a slightly larger Sinornithosaurus with reddish-brown mottled wings. Your friends stop to watch the chase and the Microraptor escapes, being able to glide for longer than the heavier Sinornithosaurus, which unlike its smaller cousin only has wing feathers on its arms and not its legs.
Suddenly, a friendly herd of Jeholosaurus wanders by. A smaller relative of their famous cousin Iguanodon, these herbivores allow you and your friends to pet them through the fences without any repercussions. These herbivores have to be on the lookout though, for larger predators such as Dilong and Yutyrannus, relatives of T-Rex. As you watch these animals lumber by, you think of the millions of years that separate you and them.
Soon after, you emerge back into the visitor center and look around in the museum. You see two skeletons, one of an early bird and the other of a raptor. You learn that their skeletons are near identical, showing that birds evolved from dinosaurs. In the next room, you see an exhibit with pterosaurs resting on a cliff. You feel that you are in a zoo, and your friends all melt down at the sight of a baby Tapejara. Its weird sail-like crest has already started to grow in.
You decide to call it a day after your friends continue ogling at the poor baby pterosaur. As you retire, you plan that tomorrow, you’ll take a tour through the desert and plains and maybe even sight a T-Rex. But now, to sleep…
Anay Ganesh 