While the species was identified in the 1970s, the archaeological community didn’t announce it to the general public until 1991. This means that when Michael Chrichton was writing the novel, presumably in 1988-1990, he wouldn’t have known about it. The novel was published in 1990
;_; my childhood is now even sadder after missing out on this hypothetical… That would’ve been epic.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatzegopteryx
While the species was identified in the 1970s, the archaeological community didn’t announce it to the general public until 1991. This means that when Michael Chrichton was writing the novel, presumably in 1988-1990, he wouldn’t have known about it. The novel was published in 1990
How terrible.