Isso foi explicado no romance e foi planejado para ser explicado no filme, mas a cena foi cortada pelo tempo. Aqui está um resumo de / Film Trivia: Por que o Triceratops estava doente em 'Jurassic Park? '?
In the film we learn that the Triceratops is getting sick every six weeks or so. Dr. Ellie Sattler first believes the culprit may be the West Indian Lilac berries found nearby, but she is told that the dinosaurs don’t eat the poisonous berries. We don’t find out the answer in the film but the event is also in the Michael Crichton novel and thus we have an answer to the question of what made the triceratops sick. (In the book it was a Stegosaurus instead of a Triceratops, however.)
The triceratops digests food such as vegetables or fruit by also eating small stones that crush and mash the food in their stomach. In the original book upon which the film is based, we find out that the stones it eats are too close to poisonous West Indian Lilac berries. So when the dinosaur replaces the stones every six weeks it simultaneously picks up some of the fallen berries and is poisoned again.
Foi mencionado no final do mesmo artigo que esta explicação para a doença do dinossauro foi filmada, mas não foi o corte final do filme.
Interestingly enough, while Spielberg didn’t have the time to answer the question in the film he does suggest the cause as we see Dr. Sattler crouch down by the Lilac berry bush and picks up some small stones, playing with them for a brief moment. This moment is apparently the remnants of a deleted scene which was filmed but never made the final film which would have explained the reason for the dino’s sickness.
Você pode ler a cena excluída no Script Jurassic Park (cena 44):
44 EXT PARK DAY
The skies are really foreboding now, and there's a sense of
growing urgency. ELLIE is by the animal, a short distance away from
the group. GRANT is near her, thinking.
GRANT
Ellie, I've been thinking there's something about the
periodicity doesn't had up.
ELLIE
I know.
Tim holds one of the smooth rocks up and calls out, a little
timidly.
TIM
These look kind of familiar.
GRANT
Triceratops was a constant browser, and constant
browsers would be constantly sick.
ELLIE
Constantly sick.
GRANT
Not just every six weeks.
ELLIE
Yeah, I know.
TIM
I've seen pictures of these!
Grant turns and looks at him, a little annoyed.
TIM
In your fully illustrated book.
Grant just rolls his eyes, but Ellie comes over and checks out
the stones.
ELLIE
What's that?
A light goes on in her eyes.
ELLIE
Alan - - gizzard stones!
She throws Grant one of the stones. They look at each other in
amazement.
As before, when they get excited, they talk right over each
other.
GRANT
Elm that's it, it explains the periodicity, the - -
ELLIE
- - the undigested state of the berries because it's - -
GRANT
- - totally incidental
(or)
unrelated to the feeding pattern - -
TIM
What are you guys saying?
ELLIE
(turning to Tim)
It's simple, see. Some animals like her, don't have
teeth - -
GRANT
- - like birds - -
ELLIE
- - like birds. What happen is, they swallow the stones
and hold them in a muscular sack in their stomachs - -
GRANT
- - a gizzard - -
ELLIE
- - which is called a gizzard, and it helps them mash
their food, but what happens after a while - -
GRANT
- - what happens is that after a while, the stones get
smooth, every six weeks, so the animal regurgitates them
- -
ELLIE
(for Tim)
- - barfs them up - -
GRANT
- - and swallows fresh ones.
ELLIE
And when she swallows the stones, she swallows the
poison berries too. That's what makes her sick.
(impressed)
Good work Tim.