SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Oct. 17, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — A historic resident of Utah has a large role in the most recent entry in the Jurassic Park movie franchise.
The performer is pegged as one of the stars of Jurassic Park Dominion, which came out this summer, according to the University of Utah. Which has a bias, of course, since some of the screen star’s remains are kept on campus at the U’s Natural History Museum of Utah.
Say hello to Nasutorerattops titusi, one of the plethora of dinosaurs depicted in Dominion. “One of the most striking dinosaurs to appear in Jurassic World Dominion is the horned dinosaur Nasutoceratops titusi,” according to the U.
“With its sweeping curved brow horns, this Triceratops cousin is reminiscent of Texas longhorn cattle. Brought to life in the movie by CGI magic, this animal was in fact a real species that lived some 76 million years ago, not in Texas, but right here in Utah.”
The monster has a pivotal role in the film, the university said in a press release, promising no spoilers. “Nasutoceratops is unique to our state, having only been found in rocks of the Kaiparowits Formation of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
“Moreover, the only original fossils of this species are here in the collections of the Natural History Museum of Utah. Only one definitive skull of Nasutoceratops has ever been discovered, along with two more fragmentary specimens that might belong to the same species. You can see the reconstructed skull on NHMU’s famed Ceratopsian Wall.
Dominion, according to the Internet Movie Data Base, as of Oct. 7 has grossed $1 billion worldwide, making it the second-largest grossing movie to date in 2022.
“Beyond its new-found fame on the silver screen and uniquely Utah provenance, what makes Nasutoceratops special?” the U asks.
“For one, it is part of an ancient ecosystem that was teaming with a remarkable diversity of horned dinosaurs; there are at least five different species of ceratopsids that co-occur in the Kaiparowits Formation, whereas most Late Cretaceous North American fossil deposits preserve only 2-3 species.
It also had much larger horns than its cousins. “So Nasutoceratops would have definitely stood out at the family reunion!”
