: Thank goodness for your missive G3A3, I loved Chiara's photos, capturing most for my own Draw 2 file, but hungered for an intellectual challenge such as you present old boy.

: Speilberg was right on the money. He portrayed events exactly as they would occur in the real world. It would be the raptor expedition members didn't see that would get them. There is every reason to suppose raptors not only hunted in packs, but herded and ambushed prey. This would necessitate thier spreading out and attacking simultaneously from different quarters. There might not be a center of the pack to shoot into. In real life, they ran horizontally, head down and tail out stretched. They could really tool, easily as fast as a horse, and turn on a dime. When Ned spun on his heel gangster style one raptor would have been coming in from above in a leap of 20 feet or so while the other two came in from his flanks.Infection induced by the raptor that bit him - in reality those teeth would have torn all the meat off his leg to the bone and scored the bone as well - would have killed him. Big lizards carry loads of bacteria in thier mouths. The worst bite I ever got was not from a poisonous snake, it was from a 9 foot anaconda. Hand and arm swelled from infection. I can well imagine what a raptor bite would do.

: In most cases, the expedition would see, very briefly, only flashing claws and teeth, parts of bodies,and maybe an eye when the raptors exploded from ambush. And the raptors would detect the expedition way before they were spotted themselves. T.rex had a great nose, raptors often hunted by sight as well as smell. Roxton would be looking down at Rachel's severed head, her wonderful eyes already glazing, and holding his own straming guts in his hands before he could even think of getting off a shot.

: When I'm out in the field hunting fossils in early and late summer, I probably pass 15 to 20 rattlesnakes lying in ambush along rodent paths every day. If they were out to get me, I'd be gotten. My point is that they are so well hidden you can't see them when your right on top of them. It doesn't take much for me to imagine the hidden ambush a group of raptors could set, particularly if they came covered in colors and patterns, and they probably did. The Challenger expedition might as well be a recon patrol in Vietnam during the war. Fighting raptors would be like fighting the VietCong.

: And then there is the difference in what it would take to bring down a reptile compared to a mammal. Experienced African guides will tell their clients to shoot to kill if an elephant charges them - no warning shots. Even though the client may have a 500 express, the elephant will kill them if they don't take advantage of every second. The guides know that in the past enraged elephant, rhino, and cape buffalo have taken repeated hits from heavy weapons that should have felled them several times over and still gone on to kill the hunter or observer. And these animals are often lighter and anatomically more sophisticated than a dinosaur, hence it's a whole lot easier to kill them. To kill a raptor, you best put a round straight between its eyes, and, if he's that close, you had best be Wyatt Erp.

: There is a perfectly good reason why all mammals remained very small nocturnal creatures whilest the dinosaurs ruled. Anything larger than a fox terrier got snapped up in a second.

: If I were up on the plateau, I'd take advantage of the terrain rather than rely upon explosives and pit traps: cliffs topped with arable land, fresh water, and cover and not easily accessed by predators. Jungles are hot wet places. the expedition would have to rely upon black powder and primitive containers for mines that would undoubtedly leak over time. They don't have any claymores you know. Poison gas would kill villagers as well as predators. All that's needed is a wind shift. Grenades are a good idea, but expedition members would have to light a fuse they hoped wouldn't burn too fast or go out and then throw it. All that would take time. I suppose they could pitch a few into any area they had to move into that might conceal a raptor ambush. They might not kill many of the critters, but they would certainly scare the crap out of them. The expedition could also use crude heavy bamboo canon and rockets the way the Chinese did. They might not do too much damage, but most animals don't like fire. Of course, they would also take the risk of a back blast or explosion each time they used such devices. If some one made a flame - thrower I'd be sure to let them use it ... all the time. They could also take point ... way way up in front.

: You underestimate the opponent in this case. We are not talking about creatures half - drunk idiots carrying remingtons can pursue with dogs in a Carolina woods, or those that can be shot with what amounts to an anti - tank rifle from SUV's on the African plain. We are talking about animals that can actually fight back with a reasonable chance of success.

: Steve Faust

Actually, most hunters aren't what you describe. My definition of "ignorant redneck trash" are people who
terrorize the whole community in which they live. Kind
of like Bill Clinton and Al Gore.
Ever hear of a "shotgun home?" That literally means a one
gun home. Therefore, a softnosed-loaded SKS or AK or .30-06 or Mini-14 or .270 is a work horse of home security as well as a hunter.
Who bloody well cares about the primitives? The only tribe of any value to the explorers is the Shamanic one. If they get gassed with mustard or diophosgene gas;
they shouldn't have attacked the explorers to begin with!
Jurassic Park was a movie. Movies are sensationalistic to begin with to sell tickets.
I liked your ideas about terrain usage. How about digging a moat around the treehouse and then electrifying the water in it?