Science Struggle With King Kong

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As seen in the remake of the 1933 film classic, Skull Island is supposed to lie somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

In the island's jungles roam a wide array of dinosaurs, including Tyrannosaurus rex; aggressive, 3-foot (90-centimeter) cockroaches; bloodthirsty car-size crabs; and, of course, Kong, a 25-foot-tall (8-meter-tall) silverback gorilla who lives alone in his mountain hideaway.

It's a world that violates most of modern science's evolutionary rules.

"The notion that dinosaurs could survive on a tiny mid-oceanic island is preposterous," said John Terborgh, a professor of environmental science at Duke University in Raleigh, North Carolina.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1214_051214_king_kong.html

KILLJOYS!!

― andy --, Wednesday, 14 December 2005 23:02 (twenty years ago)

Hahaha!

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 23:08 (twenty years ago)

Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle!

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 14 December 2005 23:10 (twenty years ago)

"Kong is obviously not a realistic representation of an island species," said Stanley Temple, a wildlife ecology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Primates don't often get to remote islands.

"I can think of no evolutionary advantage for an island primate to become larger than its ancestor," he added. In fact, the opposite would be more likely.

LIGHTEN UP STANLEY

― andy --, Wednesday, 14 December 2005 23:11 (twenty years ago)

I think being the BIGGEST FUCKING APE on any island is advantage! Sheesh.

― andy --, Wednesday, 14 December 2005 23:15 (twenty years ago)

this is like those "science of harry potter" books.

― latebloomer: Deutsch Bag (latebloomer), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 23:20 (twenty years ago)

also "skull island" is more of a peninsula.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 23:22 (twenty years ago)

Duke University in Raleigh, North Carolina

as opposed to the actual Duke University in DURHAM, NOT RALEIGH

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Thursday, 15 December 2005 00:13 (twenty years ago)

ITEM: HOBBITS ARE FICTION

― gear (gear), Thursday, 15 December 2005 00:14 (twenty years ago)

I WISH WE WERE GOING TO CANDYAPPLE ISLAND.

― Obsessing over the unobtainable and nonexistent. (Leee), Thursday, 15 December 2005 00:16 (twenty years ago)

Hobbits are not fiction

― Raw Patrick (Raw Patrick), Thursday, 15 December 2005 00:35 (twenty years ago)

Does this mean Highlander WASN'T a documentary?

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:20 (twenty years ago)

I thought the thing about King Kong that would be a struggle would be that sometimes he's twice a man's size and sometimes he's as big as a house. (a LARGE house!) Science just cannot explain that.

― D.I.Y. U.N.K.L.E. (dave225.3), Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:30 (twenty years ago)

Mirrors! It's all done with mirrors.

― melton mowbray (adr), Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:34 (twenty years ago)

Oooh. Reflection doesn't sound that plausible. But REFRACTION!! Oh, FUUUUUUCK, yeah!

― D.I.Y. U.N.K.L.E. (dave225.3), Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:41 (twenty years ago)

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