Here is a run-down of the biggest carnivores in the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies, from the beginning to finish. This is part of the Jurassic franchise section of Dinosaurs Everywhere.
Jurassic Park 1993
It may seem obvious to most fans of Jurassic Park, but the biggest carnivorous dinosaur in Jurassic Park is an adult female Tyrannosaurus Rex, referred to as Rexy. This cute nickname was mostly referred to by fans but was officially in the canon when she was referred to by name in the Jurassic World TV series, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.
Jurassic Park T. rex
Not only is Rexy the biggest meat eater in Jurassic Park, the T Rex is featured on the very logo of the movie and merchandise.
In both the movie and novel, the T rex is the main attraction of Jurassic Park. In the novel there is an adult and a juvenile, though not related as far as I know. In the movie it’s just an adult female specimen.
The guests who are invited to the island, Dr Alan Grant and Dr Sattler, aren’t aware of a T rex being on the island until they’re already there and see a huge Brachiosaurus grazing on a tree. In fact, they don’t know of any living dinosaurs until they see the Brachiosaurus near the Jeep they’re riding in and then the mixed herd of Brachiosaurus and Parasaurolophus in the lake nearby. It is unclear if Dr Malcolm knew of living dinosaurs before this point, as he seemed a bit more well informed before their arrival on Isla Nublar. He seems to know of their intent though, by his reaction when he sees the Brachiosaurus.
Hammond informs Grant and Sattler that the T rex can run at 32mph. This comes back later when a certain dinosaur chases a Jeep and shows just how fast these ancient animals could have possibly moved!
By the time anybody outside of Jurassic Park sees the T rex, she is fully grown and free roaming in a spacious paddock away from the guest and staff infrastructure. The only way to observe her is from the automated car ride that runs along a track from the Visitor’s Center, along all the paddocks and back to the Visitor’s Center.
The method used to entice the T rex to come to the fence, to be seen by guests, is by an automated feeder in plain view of the car (assuming the car stops at the same place each time). This is seen in the movie when a goat is sent into the paddock, tied to the feeder platform so the T rex finds it exactly where the Control Room wants it.
Unfortunately this backfires when due to a combination of human greed and a surprise storm, the power goes out along the fence and the T rex tests it, then escapes at the same spot the cars had stopped. At this point the movie audience can see exactly how big, powerful and scary the T rex is!
The T rex then proceeds to playfully destroy the first car that had Hammond’s grandkids inside, chase Malcolm after Grant tried distracting her, then ate Genarro, the lawyer who abandoned the kids, directly from the toilet he was hiding from.
She is then seen during Grant’s and the kid’s journey across the island as they try to reach safety. This is a cool glimpse of a T rex hunting naturally as she emerges from some heavy forest and into some straggling Gallimimus which were at the back of a herd stampeding away from danger. The T rex is showing some stealthy, ambush behaviour for such a huge animal! Later on, as the Velociraptors are very nearly going to kill the survivors, Rexy comes in and takes a killing bite from a raptor about to pounce and then is attacked by the other one, which Rexy kills and the humans take the opportunity to GO.
After the events of Jurassic Park, Rexy is left to fend for herself as everyone left alive evacuates the island, leaving her free to reign over Isla Nublar for many years to come!
The Lost World: Jurassic Park 1997
Life, uh, found a way!
In a very Hollywood way, the sequel to Jurassic Park, the Lost World still has T Rex as its biggest carnivore, only this time there are THREE T rexes!
These are the Buck, Doe, and Infant. Rexy is still safe on Isla Nublar, but the Lost World is set on Site B, Isla Sorna. This is on the same island chain off the coast of Costa Rica, but was the “factory floor,” as Hammond puts it in the beginning of the movie.
It doesn’t go into detail, but we already know the de-extinct creatures can change their gender due to Dr Henry Wu filling the genome gaps with frog DNA from the first Jurassic Park movie. Now that an entire island has had dinosaurs living without fences or boundaries for years, it seems this couple of T rexes became a breeding pair and are now raising a juvenile of their own.
The mercenaries under Peter Ludlow discover the infant in its nest after they set up camp, having secured many herbivores as soon as they set foot on the island.
After Hammond’s team rescue the infant, however, they discover in the worst possible way that there are two adult T rexes not only on the island, but coming for their baby! The adult pair take the juvenile rex back to safety but then return swiftly to attack the trailers as they still see them as a threat to their family and territory.
After both teams end up joining forces for the sake of survival, Roland, who Ludlow placed in charge of the expedition, is still intent on hunting the Buck, so after the humans just about manage to reach the abandoned Worker’s Village and get help after ensuing raptor and rex attacks, he manages to tranquilize the adult male and Ludlow has it flown to San Diego in a last-ditch attempt to salvage his plans of opening a new park on the mainland. Because of course after the first park going so well and the fact that he’s seen first hand now how dangerous and unpredictable these creatures are, taking to the mainland is a great idea!
The boat bringing the T rex in loses control before it docks and he ends up breaking out and rampaging across San Diego, eating pet dogs, traffic lights and people, and eventually thanks to Sarah Harding and Ian Malcolm luring him with the juvenile rex, they get both back on the boat and back to the island.
Jurassic Park 3
“Well, it’s a super-predator. Suchomimus.” “No, think bigger.” “Baryonyx?” “Not with that sail. Spinosaurus aegypticus.”
“I don’t remember that on InGen’s list.” “That’s because it wasn’t on their list, and it makes you wonder what else they were up to…”
The Spinosaurus in Jurassic Park 3 is the most “monster”-like dinosaur of the original trilogy. Since the filmmakers wanted something fresh since the last two featured the T rex in the last two Jurassic Park movies, the Spinosaurus was the species that made sense at the time. It was arguably bigger than the T rex, although this is a bit of a stretch unless you only count height.
Whereas the T rex in the first JP movie had broken out and caused havoc, she mostly behaved like an animal. When she was near humans, she’d eat them. Makes sense, we’re snack-sized!
But aside from this, she was roaming free and doing as she pleased. Even at the end she killed the velociraptors rather than going straight for the surviving humans.
The in the Lost World, the Rexes were behaving like a family unit, and when the adults hunted the humans, this was a response to the taking of the infant Rex and tracking the blood-stained clothes belonging to Sarah Harding. Even at the end during the San Diego incident, the characters explained the enormous creature was acting in response to being tranquilized irresponsibly, which meant the Bull Rex was acting like a locomotive until he had water and food. The bait to get him back on the boat and back to Isla Sorna was the infant after Malcolm and Harding put it back there.
The Spinosaurus, however, pretty much hunted down the humans from the moment they touched down on the air strip and unrelented until near the very end. When they first encounter the animal, Alan Grant can tell the roar from the forest sounds bigger than a Tyrannosaurus, which was Billy Brennan’s first guess.
After the Spinosaurus gets a taste of human in the form of Cooper, it then proceeds to follow the plane to where it crashed into the tree canopy, eat the pilot and then try to remove the survivors from the plane like a monkey at a zoo would get food from a toy for enrichment.
It only occurred to me when writing this (and playing Jurassic Park iii in the background) that this is one way the new apex dinosaur trumps the T rex from the first movie. Rexy took out a Jeep and tipped it over the cliff edge, but the Spinosaurus utterly destroys a small plane!
Then we get the part that divided the fans and even now causes arguments on the internet…
The surviving humans run off in a panic and stumble across a carcass, thinking they’re safe until… a T rex pops it’s huge head up and see they were interrupting dinner. Then of course it roars at them right after Alan Grant tells them not to move, and they move. The Spino then catches up and a titanic battle between two apex species starts in the forest and the Spinosaurus wins after Alan Grant narrowly avoids getting stomped on.
They get a break from the Spinosaurus at this point when they return to the wreckage of the plane to recuperate. During this point Billy guesses that the animal could be Baryonyx or Suchomimus but Alan Grant points out that with the sail on the back, it’s got to be Spinosaurus.
Then we get some awesome new varieties of Velociraptor when the humans reach an abandoned compound, then Alan Grant finds Eric, who was the whole point of the trip to the island in the first place, and the Spinosaurus inadvertently reunites Alan Grant, Eric and the others with a phone gag- both parties hear the phone ringing, find each other, then realise the Spinosaurus had swallowed the phone and that’s what they can hear. It then proceeds to barge through a reinforced-looking fence that looks far more formidable than the unpowered electric fence Rexy had broken through in the first movie.
In typical Hollywood fashion the new, cool dinosaur is trying to up show the old one!
Then we’re introduced to the aviary, a very cool nod to the first Jurassic Park novel, and get to see some up-close and personal pterodactyls. I believe the species here is Pteranodon.
Now the filmmakers really pushed the boat out…see what I did there? (Sorry not sorry).
The Spinosaurus was believed to be semi-aquatic in real life and a piscivore (fish eater). The survivors are cruising down a river toward the coast when the Spinosaurus rears its head again and attacks them in what is likely its preferred territory. Why a fish eating predator would spend so much effort on humans is beyond me, but we do get to see it attack the boat, the cage on the boat and really try to eat the last of the survivors.
When Mr Kirby manages to set the water on fire, the Spinosaurus finally relents and backs off long enough for the humans to get to the beach, deal with the velociraptors and finally get rescued by practically an army. Or navy, at least.
Unfortunately, this is the last we see of the Spinosaurus for now, except for an animated version in the later series of Camp Cretaceous.
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Where You Can Watch the Original Jurassic Park Trilogy
You can buy or rent Jurassic Park, the Lost World and Jurassic Park 3 on Amazon Prime, Apple TV and similar platforms. Sometimes they are added to Netflix, depending on the country and what selection they have. You can also buy the DVDs and Blu Rays below on Amazon:
Jurassic Park
Experience the awe-inspiring adventure that started it all with Jurassic Park. In this groundbreaking film directed by Steven Spielberg, a group of scientists and visitors find themselves face-to-face with living, breathing dinosaurs brought back to life through genetic engineering. As the park’s security systems fail, they must fight for survival in a thrilling battle against the primal forces of nature. With breathtaking special effects and a gripping storyline, Jurassic Park will leave you on the edge of your seat.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park 2
Return to the world of dinosaurs in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. In this thrilling sequel, chaos ensues when a research team travels to a secluded island inhabited by genetically engineered dinosaurs. Led by Dr. Ian Malcolm (portrayed by Jeff Goldblum), they must navigate treacherous terrain and outsmart both the formidable creatures and a group of mercenaries with their own agenda. Packed with heart-pounding action and stunning visual effects, The Lost World: Jurassic Park delivers another thrilling adventure.
Jurassic Park 3
Prepare for a pulse-pounding journey into the unknown with Jurassic Park III. In this action-packed installment, Dr. Alan Grant (portrayed by Sam Neill) reluctantly returns to Isla Sorna, the infamous dinosaur-infested island. When a desperate couple pleads for his expertise to rescue their missing son, Grant finds himself in a race against time to survive encounters with terrifying new species and escape the deadly island. Jurassic Park III is a wild ride filled with suspense, danger, and unexpected twists.
Jurassic Park Original Trilogy Boxset
Experience the complete original Jurassic Park trilogy in one incredible boxset. Relive the awe and excitement of Jurassic Park, witness the intense action of The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and feel the adrenaline rush of Jurassic Park III. This collection features all three iconic films that revolutionized the world of cinema with their groundbreaking special effects and captivating storytelling. Brace yourself for an unforgettable journey into a world where dinosaurs roam once again.
(This particular boxset also includes Jurassic World, the soft reboot that restarted the Jurassic Park franchise for newer generations)
Jurassic Park & Jurassic World Trilogies Boxset
Get ready for the ultimate Jurassic adventure with the Jurassic Park & Jurassic World Trilogies Box Set. This comprehensive collection includes all six thrilling films that have captivated audiences around the globe. Experience the wonder and terror of the original Jurassic Park trilogy, and then immerse yourself in the epic world-building of the Jurassic World trilogy. From the iconic T. rex to new genetically modified hybrids, this box set delivers hours of heart-pounding action, breath-taking visuals, and captivating storytelling.
