Read Online Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton - Free Book Online
Authors: Michael Crichton
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, adventure, Media Tie-In - General, Media Tie-In, Juvenile Nonfiction, Thrillers, Juvenile Fiction, Science Fiction - General, Fiction - Science Fiction, Animals, Technological, Cloning, Movie, Tv Tie-Ins, Movie-TV Tie-In - General, Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures, Clones and cloning, Dinosaurs, Amusement parks
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fourth and fifth toes were located up near the metatarsal joint. The tibia was strong, and considerably longer than the femur. At the hip, the acetabulum was complete. The tail showed forty-five vertebrae. It was a Procompsognathus.
"Could this X-ray be faked?"
"I don't know," Grant said. "But it's almost impossible to fake an X-ray. And Procompsognathus is an obscure animal. Even people familiar with dinosaurs have never heard of it."
Ellie read the note. "Specimen acquired on the beach of Cabo Blanco, July 16. . . . Apparently a howler monkey was eating the animal, and this was all that was recovered. Oh . . . and it says the lizard attacked a little girl."
"I doubt that," Grant said. "But perhaps. Procompsognathus was so small and light we assume it must be a scavenger, only feeding off dead creatures. And you can tell the size"-he measured quickly-"it's about twenty centimeters to the hips, which means the full animal would be about a foot tall. About as big as a chicken. Even a child would look pretty fearsome to it. It might bite an infant, but not a child."
Ellie frowned at the X-ray image. "You think this could really be a legitimate rediscovery?" she said. "Like the coelacanth?"
"Maybe," Grant said. The coelacanth was a five-foot-long fish thought to have died out sixty-five million years ago, until a specimen was pulled from the ocean in 1938. But there were other examples. The Australian mountain pygmy possum was known only from fossils until a live one was found in a garbage can in Melbourne. And a ten-thousand-year-old fossil fruit bat from New Guinea was described by a zoologist who not long afterward received a living specimen in the mail.
"But could it be real?" she persisted. "What about the age?"
Grant nodded. "The age is a problem."
Most rediscovered animals were rather recent additions to the fossil record: ten or twenty thousand years old. Some were a few million years old- in the case of the coelacanth, sixty-five million years old. But the specimen they were looking at was much, much older than that. Dinosaurs had died out in the Cretaceous period, sixty-five million years ago. They had flourished as the dominant life form on the planet in the Jurassic, 190 million years ago. And they had first appeared in the Triassic, roughly 220 million years ago.
It was during the early Triassic period that Procompsognathus had lived-a time so distant that our planet didn't even look the same. All the continents were joined together in a single landmass, called Pangaca, which extended from the North to the South Pole-a vast continent of ferns and forests, with a few large deserts. The Atlantic Ocean was a narrow lake between what would become Africa and Florida. The air was denser. The land was warmer. There were hundreds of active volcanoes. And it was in this environment that Procompsognathus lived.
"Well," Ellie said. "We know animals have survived. Crocodiles are basically Triassic animals living in the present. Sharks are Triassic. So we know it has happened before."
Grant nodded. "And the thing is," he said, "how else do we explain it? It's either a fake-which I doubt-or else it's a rediscovery. What else could it be?"
The phone rang. "Alice Levin again," Grant said. "Let's see if she'll send us the actual specimen." He answered it and looked at Ellie, surprised. "Yes, I'll hold for Mr. Hammond. Yes. Of course."
"Hammond? What does he want?" Ellie said.
Grant shook his head, and then said into the phone, "Yes, Mr. Hammond. Yes, it's good to hear your voice, too. . . .Yes . . . ." He looked at Ellie. "Oh, you did? Oh yes? Is that right?"
He cupped his hand over the mouthpiece and said, "Still as eccentric as ever. You've got to hear this."
Grant pushed the speaker button, and Ellie heard a raspy old-man's voice speaking rapidly: "-hell of an annoyance from some EPA fellow,
"Could this X-ray be faked?"
"I don't know," Grant said. "But it's almost impossible to fake an X-ray. And Procompsognathus is an obscure animal. Even people familiar with dinosaurs have never heard of it."
Ellie read the note. "Specimen acquired on the beach of Cabo Blanco, July 16. . . . Apparently a howler monkey was eating the animal, and this was all that was recovered. Oh . . . and it says the lizard attacked a little girl."
"I doubt that," Grant said. "But perhaps. Procompsognathus was so small and light we assume it must be a scavenger, only feeding off dead creatures. And you can tell the size"-he measured quickly-"it's about twenty centimeters to the hips, which means the full animal would be about a foot tall. About as big as a chicken. Even a child would look pretty fearsome to it. It might bite an infant, but not a child."
Ellie frowned at the X-ray image. "You think this could really be a legitimate rediscovery?" she said. "Like the coelacanth?"
"Maybe," Grant said. The coelacanth was a five-foot-long fish thought to have died out sixty-five million years ago, until a specimen was pulled from the ocean in 1938. But there were other examples. The Australian mountain pygmy possum was known only from fossils until a live one was found in a garbage can in Melbourne. And a ten-thousand-year-old fossil fruit bat from New Guinea was described by a zoologist who not long afterward received a living specimen in the mail.
"But could it be real?" she persisted. "What about the age?"
Grant nodded. "The age is a problem."
Most rediscovered animals were rather recent additions to the fossil record: ten or twenty thousand years old. Some were a few million years old- in the case of the coelacanth, sixty-five million years old. But the specimen they were looking at was much, much older than that. Dinosaurs had died out in the Cretaceous period, sixty-five million years ago. They had flourished as the dominant life form on the planet in the Jurassic, 190 million years ago. And they had first appeared in the Triassic, roughly 220 million years ago.
It was during the early Triassic period that Procompsognathus had lived-a time so distant that our planet didn't even look the same. All the continents were joined together in a single landmass, called Pangaca, which extended from the North to the South Pole-a vast continent of ferns and forests, with a few large deserts. The Atlantic Ocean was a narrow lake between what would become Africa and Florida. The air was denser. The land was warmer. There were hundreds of active volcanoes. And it was in this environment that Procompsognathus lived.
"Well," Ellie said. "We know animals have survived. Crocodiles are basically Triassic animals living in the present. Sharks are Triassic. So we know it has happened before."
Grant nodded. "And the thing is," he said, "how else do we explain it? It's either a fake-which I doubt-or else it's a rediscovery. What else could it be?"
The phone rang. "Alice Levin again," Grant said. "Let's see if she'll send us the actual specimen." He answered it and looked at Ellie, surprised. "Yes, I'll hold for Mr. Hammond. Yes. Of course."
"Hammond? What does he want?" Ellie said.
Grant shook his head, and then said into the phone, "Yes, Mr. Hammond. Yes, it's good to hear your voice, too. . . .Yes . . . ." He looked at Ellie. "Oh, you did? Oh yes? Is that right?"
He cupped his hand over the mouthpiece and said, "Still as eccentric as ever. You've got to hear this."
Grant pushed the speaker button, and Ellie heard a raspy old-man's voice speaking rapidly: "-hell of an annoyance from some EPA fellow,
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