Researchers led by Pâmela Lima at the Federal University of Alagoas in Brazil examined why some dinosaurs capture public attention far more than others. The team studied 323 dinosaur genera and collected data on size, diet, when each species lived, and when it was first scientifically described. They also noted which dinosaurs appeared in the "Jurassic Park" movie franchise.
The researchers gathered Wikipedia pageview data across all available languages from July 2015 to July 2025 to measure public interest. They then used a statistical model to identify which factors most strongly predicted that interest.
Appearing in "Jurassic Park" movies was by far the strongest predictor of public interest, outweighing biological traits like size and diet. However, the study authors noted that some dinosaurs, including Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus, were already well-known before the first "Jurassic Park" film in 1993. The authors wrote that "Jurassic Park did not create their cultural visibility; rather, it amplified and updated preexisting paleo-iconographic traditions."
Larger, meat-eating dinosaurs attracted more attention than smaller herbivores. Dinosaurs identified earlier in scientific history tended to attract more interest, possibly because they had longer to become established in public imagination.
The team suggested the findings could benefit conservation efforts. The authors noted that "We cannot alter the biological traits of a threatened amphibian or insect to make them larger or more dangerous. We can, however, adapt the mechanisms that make dinosaurs culturally ubiquitous."
The study was published in Biology Letters in 2026.