In 1995, Richard Levine and Marty Guitierrez traveled to the costal region of Rojas, in the southern part of Costa Rica to investigate the beached aberrant form. While Marty distracted the pilot, Levine borrowed Marty’s knife and was able to cut away a small two inch square slice of skin before the carcass was destroyed. Levine then sent the sample by DHL shipping service to Ian Malcolm at his office in Berkeley University.
To further protect the specimen, he enclosed it in a stainless steel specimen container, with refrigerant gas to preserve it. Ian Malcolm had the sample tested at the San Francisco Zoo Research Laboratory by Elizabeth Gelman, the head of research at the zoo.
The sample was greenish, with a pebbled texture. The state of the tissue was very decomposed, and the exact measurements were four centimeters by six centimeters. Attached to the tissue was a two centimeter square green plastic tag. The epidermal cells in the skin had an unusual density of chromatophores (pigment bearing cells). The chromatophores could open and close, meaning that the animal that the sample had belonged to could change color. Also, Elizabeth showed Malcolm the presence of a femoral sweat gland, indicating that the animal had been male.
The lab also found that the sample contained Nucleated red blood cells, characteristic of birds. There was also atypical hemoglobin, differing in the way its base pairs were structured from regular lizards. There was also an aberrant white cell structure, which showed that the animal had an unusual immune system. There were also foreign cells under the outer epidermal layer, indicative of a fight. There were signs of chronic and continuous stress in its arterial vessels, owing to the stressful environment of Isla Sorna.
The Lost World by Michael Crichton page 23, 37-38, 50-53 (First Edition, Thirty Fourth printing)
