Beyond Dinosaurs, What Would We Need To Create A Jurassic World?

Plants and Animals





Photo credit:

You couldn’t just plop dinosaurs anywhere and expect them to survive. Wikimedia Commons

Like many moviegoers this summer, I plan to watch Jurassic World. And because I’m a paleontologist, I’ll cheer for the movie’s protagonists (the dinosaurs) and jeer at the villains (the humans).

But no matter how thrilling this movie may be, one question will plague me throughout: where are the dung beetles?

Dung beetles – which are beetles that eat and breed in dung – would be only one of many ecological necessities for an actual Jurassic World-style theme park.