Deviation Actions
Description
(From an introduction to a textbook regarding the incident, written in 2003)
"In the year 1993, the world-famous up-and-coming bioengineering corporation InGen suddenly and abruptly announced bankruptcy, much to the astonishment of the general public (and the dismay of several thousand stockholders).
Exactly what had happened was initially blocked by a great deal of red tape (much of it supplied by the government of Costa Rica), but after a concentrated investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, CEO John Hammond – shortly before announcing his retirement – decided to, in his own words, “come clean” in August of 1994.
Amazingly, it was revealed that InGen’s research into genetic engineering had managed to succeed in cloning a living animal from a few strands of DNA – and more than that, they had succeeded in cloning living dinosaurs, having extracted their DNA from blood taken from abdomens of mosquitoes preserved in Mesozoic-era amber. Moreover, InGen had decided to display these dinosaurs in a theme park/zoo on the small island of Isla Nublar off the coast of Costa Rica. Amazingly, over a dozen species had been put on display, and the park was scheduled to open in July of 1994.
Unfortunately, an industrial spy named Dennis Nedry, working for a rival corporation named BioSyn, became the key for the theme park’s downfall. Several catastrophes occurred at once to spell the park’s doom: Nedry shut down several of the park’s main security measures in order to cover his tracks when he stole several embryos and attempted to get them to his agent on a boat on Isla Nublar’s shore. This coincided with a trial run-through of the park by a small group of scientists and experts – a time when the security measures were scheduled to be temporarily decreased – and a massive tropical storm tore several of the fences down. To make matters worse, Nedry was apparently killed on the way to the docks, and was unable to start the security systems back up. The result was catastrophic: the dinosaurs quickly overran the island, destroying the infrastructure and making it far, far too dangerous for visitors.
The final nail in the company’s coffin came when it was discovered that the damaged, ancient dinosaur DNA had been filled in with frog DNA by the cloning division’s leader, Dr. Henry Wu. The frog DNA mutated the dinosaurs – very slightly, but enough – and the resulting animals were found to be able to change sex in a single-sex environment, allowing the creatures to breed. Worse still, the DNA had changed their genetic code enough that it was almost certain that the animals bore little resemblance to their prehistoric counterparts. Dr. Grant loudly decried them as “genetically engineered theme park monsters”, though reception to this by the public was skeptical.
In the years to come, what genetic information was relayed to the public proved conclusively that the animals on Isla Nublar (and later, it was discovered, Isla Sorna – a “Site B” designed to observe the creatures before they were released on Isla Nublar) were not, strictly speaking, true dinosaurs. For all intents and purposes, the animals on Isla Nublar, in Dr. Alan Grant’s less-than-subtle words, were “Genetically Engineered Theme Park Monsters”, designed to be as accurate to the ancient beasts as possible, but restricted in accuracy by the scientists’ current knowledge of dinosaurs. Nonetheless, Dr. Wu’s impressive strides in the field of bioengineering are being studied and analyzed to this day. Isla Sorna and Isla Nublar have been officially quarantined by the UN, with few individuals being given permission to enter or leave. Rumors of the Masrani Corporation’s interest in purchasing the islands seem to be more accurate every day…
(From Dr. Miller's private journals)
Curiously, while a Brachiosaurus herd had established a thriving population on Isla Sorna, the dryer southern plains of the island were dominated by a population of Mamenchisaurus. As peaceful and benevolent as they were, they were among the few creatures that PEter Ludlow's team never even tried to capture in 1997 - their sheer size saw them through. As far as anyone knows, the population still lives on Isla Sorna.