The Jurassic Park effect: People only care about dinosaurs if the species was featured in the movie franchise, study finds

A study suggests the Jurassic Park franchise has had a lasting influence on which dinosaurs attract public attention. Analysing Wikipedia page views, researchers found that appearing in the films was a stronger predictor of interest than biological traits such as size or diet.

The researchers analysed 3.5 billion views of dinosaur pages between 2015 and 2025. Large, meat-eating species were generally more popular, but screen appearances helped smaller dinosaurs and plant-eaters gain attention too. The authors say the franchise may encourage interest in the natural world and visits to natural history museums.