Continuity mistake: In the opening scene, when Jophery falls from the cage, he lands on his front. The shot changes to a wide view and he is now on his back and rolls over to get up. (00:02:40)
Continuity mistake: When we first meet the dinosaurs Alan is sitting in front of a lake. Ellie is standing right in front of him. After the cut Ellie comes to Alan from behind and puts her hands on his shoulders. (00:21:25)
Revealing mistake: When the T-Rex flips the Explorer over, as it settles on its roof, the stunt control wires are visible at the rear of the vehicle. This mistake was corrected on blu-ray. (01:03:40)
Continuity mistake: When Hammond watches the vehicles leaving the visitor center the first car is passed the main steps. In the next shot of the car, they are just moving past the steps. (00:39:30)
Revealing mistake: When Dr. Malcolm gets thrown through the toilet door by the T-Rex, it is most obviously a stuntman that lands on the ground and gets covered in palm leaves. (01:04:40)
Revealing mistake: In the sequence when Lex almost falls from the hole in the ceiling, she looks straight back up at the camera. Rather than cut away from the stunt double at this point, they actually bothered to CGI the actress' face over the top so they could use the sequence right through. Unfortunately you can tell what's been done. (01:51:40)
Continuity mistake: When the T-rex breaks out, on the first car, the one with the kids in it, only the regular headlights are on. When it goes over the "cliff" all the headlights are on. (01:03:20 - 01:09:10)
Continuity mistake: When Dennis tries to get the dinosaur to fetch a stick, at first the stick is perfectly straight. Then they show a shot of Dennis from the front, and all of a sudden the stick is crooked. (01:10:05)
Continuity mistake: After being electrocuted, Tim flies down vertically, but Dr. Grant catches him horizontally. (01:39:15)
Continuity mistake: Just as they start going down the wire into the T-Rex paddock, in addition to the problem mentioned above with the ground level suddenly dropping, take a look at the wire. In the first shot underneath them it's curling up and towards the camera, like it's caught on something, then it changes angle, and the wire's hanging straight down. (01:06:15)
Continuity mistake: When Sam Neill found the eggshells beside the root of the tree, they are on the dark soil. In the other shot, the same eggshells are on the clear sand. (01:27:40)
Revealing mistake: When the Explorers are entering the park through the large wooden gate, during the overhead angle you can see that the perimeter fence isn't continuous. (00:40:00)
Continuity mistake: When the T-Rex first breaks out of her paddock, she walks between the two Explorers which look to be only a short distance apart- maybe one or two T-Rex-steps between them. But later when the T-Rex is by Grant's Explorer and walks to the one with the kids in it (when Grant is saying "Turn the light off") she has to take about five steps to get there. (01:01:25)
Continuity mistake: When Tim is up the fence Grant starts counting for him. When he starts to count, Lex and him are next to the fence. In the next shot, Lex and him are much further away from the fence. (01:38:55)
Continuity mistake: When Jeff Goldblum is sitting in the back of the car by himself and notices that a T-Rex is coming towards him. The wide shot of him shows that the car he is in is near one of the cars for the tour. But when the T-Rex comes and they drive off, the car has been moved to an alternate route for the escape, and they are nowhere near the area they should be. (01:16:50)
Continuity mistake: Just after Timmy puts the goggles on and climbs into the back with Lex she says, "don't scare me" and turns to face him as he crawls into the boot. In the next shot she is immediately facing in completely the opposite direction, looking through the window. This is just before Timmy says, "oh cool, night vision". (00:58:35)
Continuity mistake: As the T-Rex is looking for Lex and Dr. Grant, Dr. Grant says "Don't move. He can't see us if you don't move." When he says this he is to the left of the wheel arch. Then, the T-Rex blows the hat off Dr. Grant who, with Lex is at the end of the upturned 4x4 when the T-Rex knocks it but in the next shot they have moved and are not at the end of the 4x4. They are back where they started, to the left of the wheel. (01:05:30)
Continuity mistake: When Alan, Lexi and Tim are climbing the hill and you see them from behind, Tim is almost next to Alan. In the next shot, when you see them from the front, Tim is lagging behind the other two and has to catch up. (01:30:25)
Continuity mistake: Right after the "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear" shot, the dinosaur breaks a huge trunk that falls forward. A shot later note behind the dinosaur and the huge trunk is nowhere to be seen.
Character mistake: The correct spelling of stegosaurus is steg"o"saurus yet when Nedry steals the embryos, the freezer says steg"a"saurus. (00:55:50)
Answer: They are not paleontologists, just people interested in dinosaurs. It is common for museums and other scientific organizations to offer the general public an opportunity to participate in a real paleontology dig. For a fee, they become an exhibition team member for a period of time, learn about dinosaurs, help excavate fossils, and so on. This is likely how Dr. Grant (or his institution) supplements his research funding.
raywest ★