Raptors Symbol in Jurassic Park

The raptors symbolize the power of nature and its ability to evade and escape human control. Dr. Henry Wu can extract, sequence, and clone dinosaur DNA from biological matter preserved in amber. But he and his team can’t predict which dinosaur they’re making until it hatches, and they have no insight into the animal’s behavior or physiology prior to its hatching. The raptors, it turns out, are lethal, intelligent, and coordinated, making them the most dangerous animals the park produces. They evade biological control when they gain the ability to reproduce independently, and the fact that they are isolated and kept off display due to the danger they pose undermines Hammond’s assurances that all the animals—and the park—are perfectly safe and under control. Once they escape the confines of their enclosure, they pose the most direct and ongoing threat to the park’s visitors, attacking Robert Muldoon, Tim, Lex, Ellie Sattler, John Arnold, and Wu. In this way, they also graphically demonstrate the dangers of inappropriate and uncritical applications of technology for its own sake (or for the sake of greed)—as Dr. Ian Malcolm complains, Wu and the others were so focused on what they could do with genetic technology that they never bothered to ask whether they should do it. Thus, when Wu falls victim to his own creation, his death contributes to the book’s argument that technological and scientific discovery need to be guided by thoughtful regulation and oversight.

Raptors Quotes in Jurassic Park

The Jurassic Park quotes below all refer to the symbol of Raptors. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

“Let’s keep it in perspective,” Hammond said. “You get the engineering correct and the animals will fall into place. After all, they’re trainable.”

From the beginning, this had been one of the core beliefs of the planners. The animals, however exotic, would fundamentally behave like animals in zoos anywhere. They would learn the regularities of their care, and they would respond.

Related Characters: John Hammond (speaker), John Arnold

Related Symbols: Raptors

Page Number and Citation: 157

Explanation and Analysis:

Muldoon worried even more about the velociraptors. They were instinctive hunters, and they never passed up prey. They killed even when they weren’t hungry. They killed for the pleasure of killing. They were swift: strong runners and astonishing jumpers. They had lethal claws on all four limbs; one swipe of a forearm would disembowel a man, spilling his guts out. And they had powerful tearing jaws that ripped flesh instead of biting it. They were far more intelligent than the other dinosaurs, and they seemed to be natural cage-breakers. […] Raptors were at least as intelligent as chimpanzees. And, like chimpanzees, they had agile hands that enabled them to open doors and manipulate objects. They could escape with ease. And when, as Muldoon had feared, one of them finally escaped, it killed two construction workers and maimed a third before it had been captured.

Related Characters: Robert Muldoon

Related Symbols: Raptors

Page Number and Citation: 164

Explanation and Analysis:

The behavior of the dinosaurs had always been a minor consideration for Wu. […] You couldn’t really predict behavior, and you couldn’t really control it, except for in very crude ways. […] You couldn’t look at a DNA sequence and predict behavior. It was impossible.

And that had made Wu’s DNA work purely empirical. It was a matter of tinkering, in the way a modern workman might repair an antique grandfather clock. You were dealing with something out of the past, something constructed of ancient materials and following ancient rules […] Wu would make an adjustment and then see if the animals behaved any better. And he only tried to correct gross behavior: uncontrolled butting of the electrical fences, or rubbing the skin raw on tree trunks. Those were the behaviors that sent him back to the drawing board.

Related Characters: Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ian Malcolm, Dr. Ellie Sattler, Dr. Henry Wu

Related Symbols: Raptors

Page Number and Citation: 374

Explanation and Analysis:

The compys didn’t look dangerous. They were about as big as chickens, and they moved […] chickens. But he knew [that…their] bites had a slow-acting poison that they used to kill crippled animals.

Crippled animals, he thought, frowning.

The first of the compys perched on the hillside, staring at him. It stayed about five feet away, beyond his reach, and just watched him. Others came down soon after, and they stood in a row. Watching. They hopped up and down and chittered and waved their little clawed hands.

“Shoo! Get out!” he said, and threw a rock.

The compys backed away, but only a foot or two. They weren’t afraid. They seemed to know he couldn’t hurt them.

Angrily, Hammond tore a branch from a tree and swiped at them with it. The compys dodged, nipped at the leaves, squeaked happily. They seemed to think he was playing a game.

Related Characters: John Hammond, Tina Bowman

Related Symbols: Raptors

Page Number and Citation: 439-440

Explanation and Analysis:

Raptors Symbol Timeline in Jurassic Park

The timeline below shows where the symbol Raptors appears in Jurassic Park. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...the worker’s hands and arms. The worker is in shock, and he whispers “Lo sa raptor” while she examines him. Her assistant refuses to help clean the foul-smelling wounds, worried that... (full context)

Later, using her Spanish dictionary, Dr. Carter learns that “raptor” means “ravisher” or “abductor.” When local midwife Elena Morales comes in with a woman in... (full context)

...Grant concedes that he probably wasn’t—but he would have been if he grew up. Adult raptors were “quick, intelligent, and vicious” and probably the most “rapacious” dinosaurs that ever lived. They... (full context)

Finally, the group arrives in the nursery, where a technician tends to a baby velociraptor. The small yellow and brown creature jumps into Tim’s arms. Both Wu and the tech... (full context)

Grant wants to look at the baby raptor, which Tim willingly hands over. But Grant handles the creature callously, stressing it and causing... (full context)

Grant asks if the park already has adult raptors. They do, Wu and Regis tell him, but they’re not yet “integrated into the park... (full context)

...the way so many of them seem fascinated by dinosaurs—so he asks Tim questions about raptors while they walk. Tim knows that raptors are pack hunters. Grant adds that they were... (full context)

...the visitor center, Malcolm and Grant discuss the speed of the attack, judging that the raptors reached speeds of at least 60 or 70 miles an hour. Malcolm expresses surprise over... (full context)

...drinking lagoon water or the triceratops killing each other in struggles for dominance, or the raptors—but Hammond cuts Arnold off before he can repeat complaints about the raptors. He maintains that... (full context)

...it up to 50 feet—luckily came before the animals hurt or killed someone. And the raptors…well, Muldoon knows that they are instinctive hunters who love the thrill of the chase even... (full context)

...begin to move once again, Tim thinks he catches a glimpse of a brown-and-yellow animal—a raptor—stalking through the tall grass. He screams for Regis to stop the car, but Regis refuses... (full context)

...bird. But Grant insists that it’s a dinosaur egg. And not just any dinosaur egg—a raptor egg. (full context)

...300, the computer slowly tallies up 283 total animals, including extra maiasaurs, compys, othnielia, and raptors. Hammond assumes that a computer bug causes the miscount, but Nedry explains that he programmed... (full context)

...that the island boasts seven breeding sites, based on the numbers: two each for the raptors and compys and one each for the other three species. He further hypothesizes that bigger... (full context)

...it hard to see. But eventually, Grant confirms Tim’s sighting of at least two juvenile raptors. (full context)

...they were nearly as diversified as mammals are today. And some of them, especially the raptors, seem incredibly intelligent. They close some of the distance between themselves and the dinosaur in... (full context)

...darkness at him. Instinctively, he shoots it with a tranquilizer dart. The animal—a juvenile male raptor, according to Grant’s assessment—falls to the ground, dazed. Excited by the discovery of one of... (full context)

...on auxiliary power. They have been off for hours all over the park. Even the velociraptors’ fence. (full context)

...dinosaur physiology makes them very hard to kill. And, although the park officially has eight raptors, they only have six shells. (full context)

Muldoon and Gennaro leave the visitor center in time to see three raptors closing in on Arnold, who cowers in front of the power plant door. Muldoon drops... (full context)

...to Malcolm. When Hammond arrives to check on his guest, he glumly reports that the raptors escaped. He’s reluctant to admit that Malcolm, who predicted a failure of fence integrity, was... (full context)

...and to explain that he’s stuck, wedged into a drainage pipe just out of the raptors’ reach. Meanwhile, barely containing his panic, Arnold opens the door to the maintenance shed. The... (full context)

Gennaro doesn’t like living dangerously, but he thinks he has a plan. Assuming that the raptors wait on the south side of the maintenance shed, he circles around and approaches from... (full context)

...Tim race through the underground tunnel in the electric car, carrying the tranquilized juvenile male raptor with them. Grant wants to preserve it as evidence of wild breeding. Lex shines the... (full context)

Ellie tells Grant that two raptors have climbed to the roof and are chewing through the steel bars on the skylight... (full context)

...cautiously walk up to the exterior fence. Ellie shouts and bangs on the bars; no raptors appear through the mist. Finally, banking on their intelligence, she decides to open the gate... (full context)

In Malcolm’s room, Wu can still see two raptors on the skylight, but the noise of their fellows outside the fence draws their attention... (full context)

...sound. He creeps to the kitchen doors and looks through their windows to see a velociraptor stalking through the dining room. Meanwhile, as Grant retraces his steps through the maintenance shed,... (full context)

Back in the kitchen, Tim watches the velociraptor follow their scent towards the kitchen. The books all say that dinosaurs have a terrible... (full context)

At the lodge, Wu grows increasingly uneasy watching the raptors mock-attacking the fence. He hasn’t paid much attention to dinosaur behavior previously since he can’t... (full context)

...too late. He’s trying to convince Ellie to come inside when one of the skylight raptors jumps on him from the roof. Muldoon runs inside and slams the front door, while... (full context)

...up a tree to the lodge roof. She has a short head start while the raptors finish eating Wu, but soon enough they follow her up the tree and onto the... (full context)

Outside, Grant and Gennaro crouch in the fog, watching the three raptors alternately listening to something and trying to get into the visitor center. Grant worries that... (full context)

...lying in his bed at the lodge; the supply ship approaching harbor on the mainland; raptors on the roof of the lodge, about to jump into Malcolm’s room. (full context)

...the error, Lex frantically pulls him from the screen, and he hears the snarling of raptors. Tim and Lex step into the hallway and the control room door locks behind them.... (full context)

...inside, they confront another set of locked doors separating them from Tim and Lex…and the raptors. (full context)

...through the door, he felt the touch of reptile skin. But it’s just the baby raptor: he and Lex have stumbled into the nursery. The scared baby jumps into his arms,... (full context)

Grant tells Gennaro that he has a plan to dispatch the raptors and pushes him, Lex, and Tim, through a nearby door. He hopes it will allow... (full context)

...pushes the button for the lodge grid and the electrified bars zap and kill the raptors on the lodge roof. Next, Tim calls the boat captain, who hears a child’s voice... (full context)

...predation picks up. As an example, Gennaro, Grant, and Ellie watch a pack of six raptors take down a hadrosaur on one of the video monitors. The paleontologists stare at the... (full context)

After watching the raptors’ movements on the wall map, Ellie has hypothesized that their nest sits on the southern... (full context)

...Ellie, Grant, Gennaro, and Muldoon head to the garage, where Lex plays with the juvenile raptor Grant captured the previous day. She helps them put a radio collar on the animal... (full context)

The juvenile raptor—or a juvenile raptor—pops in and out of view among the rocks, almost like he’s playing... (full context)

...he sits on a ledge in a giant, subterranean structure filled with at least 30 raptors. Grant whispers in Gennaro’s ear that they’ve found the colony, which consists of four or... (full context)

Just then, the juvenile raptor with the radio collar hops onto the ledge next to Ellie. It whimpers in discomfort... (full context)

...axes. While Grant and Ellie ponder the implications—maybe this indicates a hive intelligence among the raptors, like bees, or maybe there’s a breeze—Gennaro opens his watch and checks its compass. The... (full context)

Chasing the raptors, Gennaro, Grant, and Ellie follow the tunnels to the beach. The dinosaurs array themselves along... (full context)

Ellie and Grant find the idea of the raptors migrating exhilarating. But they don’t have long to celebrate the discovery before they hear an... (full context)

Jurassic Park

Michael Crichton

Raptors Symbol Analysis

Raptors Quotes in Jurassic Park

Raptors Symbol Timeline in Jurassic Park