Don Lessem

Last updated

"Dino" Don Lessem (born 1951) is a writer of more than 50 popular science books, specializing in dinosaurs. He was the founder of the Dinosaur Society and the Jurassic Foundation, which collectively have raised millions of dollars for dinosaur research. He is the CEO and founder of Dino Don, Inc., an animatronics company specializing in dinosaurs, dragons, and sea creatures.

Contents

Career

Skeleton reconstruction of Lessemsaurus sauropoides, named after Don Lessem Lessemsaurus Senckenberg.jpg
Skeleton reconstruction of Lessemsaurus sauropoides, named after Don Lessem

After a bachelor's degree in art history at Brandeis University and a master's in animal behavior from the University of Massachusetts Boston, [1] Lessem began his writing career as a researcher for the Smithsonian Center for Short-Lived Phenomena. For more than a decade he was a science journalist specializing in conservation issues for the Boston Globe and a contributor to Life , The New York Times , and Smithsonian Magazine. [2]

Lessem's professional interest in dinosaurs developed while he was a Knight Journalism Fellow at MIT in 1988. He wrote his first book, Kings of Creation, in 1990, as a survey of current worldwide paleontology research.

Lessem was an advisor to Jurassic Park , Dinosaur , and Disney's Animal Kingdom , as well as their respective theme park attractions. He has written and hosted Discovery Channel and NOVA documentaries on dinosaurs and is a television and radio commentator on paleontology. The sauropodomorph dinosaur Lessemsaurus is named after him.

Lessem directed the excavation and reconstruction of the largest plant-eating dinosaur, the 110-foot long Argentinosaurus, and the largest carnivorous dinosaur, the 45 foot-long Giganotosaurus from Patagonia,[ citation needed ] in collaboration with Dr. Rodolfo Coria of the Museo Carmen Funes in Plaza Huincul, Argentina. [3]

Lessem's first traveling exhibition company, Exhibits Rex, has created several of the largest international travelling museum exhibitions of dinosaurs, including Jurassic Park, The Lost World, and Chinasaurs, in addition to an exhibition of the treasures of Genghis Khan. Lessem's The Real Genghis Khan exhibition has toured major museums in North America and Asia since 2009. Celebrating the neglected civilizing influence of Genghis Khan and curated by Smithsonian archaeologists, the exhibition has been seen by nearly two million visitors. The exhibition blends live musical performance with role-playing activities, and the largest collection of 13th century Mongolian artifacts ever toured. It has been viewed by nearly two million museum-goers.

Lessem's company Dino Don, Inc. [4] began constructing the world's most accurate full-sized robotic dinosaurs in 2017 for zoos and museums worldwide. In April 2019 Lessem opened his Dinosaur Safari exhibition at New York's Bronx Zoo with more than 40 dinosaurs up to 60 feet in length, the largest zoo robotic exhibition in North America. In July 2020 at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, the Dinos Everywhere! exhibit featured Lessem's creation of the world's largest anatomically correct dinosaur, a 120-foot Argentinosaurus . [5] Other venues to display Dino Don, Inc. dinosaurs include The Jacksonville Zoo, Philadelphia Zoo, Columbus Zoo, San Antonio Zoo, Copenhagen Zoo, Edinburgh Zoo, and Leipzig Zoo.

Lessem has also authored children's books on extinct animals, endangered species, the Amazon rainforest and the "Iceman". Via his monthly column in Highlights Magazine for a decade, "Dino" Don answered more than 10,000 letters [6] from children. He created the non-profit children's newspaper Dino Times, which ran from 1981 to 1984. At the behest of Universal Studios, 1.3 million copies of a special edition of Dino Times were distributed at the opening of Jurassic Park.

Lessem is also the author of several humorous books including Aerphobics, Death by Roller Disco, How to Flatten Your Nose, and The Worst of Everything. His humorous essays have appeared in Punch , The New York Times and The Atlantic .

Lessem was the creator of Earth Quest Adventures, a theme park and resort planned for East Montgomery County, west of Houston, in 2008. He is also the initial designer of a wetlands attraction in Daqing, China and an paleontology-themed attraction, Gondwana: Das Praehistorium, in Reden, Germany.

Lessem has been profiled on The Today Show, in People, Success, Entrepreneur, and Inc. Magazines. He has frequently appeared as a commentator on dinosaurs for Good Morning America, The Today Show, CBS Morning News, and PBS Science Friday and All Things Considered.

Lessem gained worldwide notoriety in 2019 for deploying his "Dumping Trump [7] " robot at anti-Trump protests in London and Washington DC. The 16 foot-high sculpture of Trump sitting on a golden toilet tweets while saying ""No Collusion" "Stable Genius,"  and "Fake News." It toured the eastern United States in October, 2020 as the "Trump Death Mobile" with a banner "Vote for Me and die: 200,000 People Have." Lessem is the author of a quote quiz book comparing Trump to dictators and fictional villains, entitled "Who Said It; Trump Or This Other Shmuck." The website TheDumpingTrumpRobot.com detailed the whereabouts of the robot. Mr. Lessem is currently designing a mobile Trump Museum of Crime to tour US cities in 2024.

Personal life

Lessem resides in Media, Pennsylvania. His wife, Valerie Jones, is a non-profit development consultant. His daughters, Rebecca Lessem and Erica Lessem, are respectively an energy company executive and a public health specialist in tuberculosis, both residing in New York.

Shark Tank appearance

On May 21, 2021, Lessem and his wife appeared on the Season 12 finale of Shark Tank to pitch their business Dino Don Inc. [8] They made a deal with Mark Cuban for a $500,000 investment in exchange for a 25% stake in the company. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Horner (paleontologist)</span> American paleontologist

John Robert Horner is an American paleontologist most famous for describing Maiasaura, providing the first clear evidence that some dinosaurs cared for their young. In addition to his paleontological discoveries, Horner served as the technical advisor for the first five Jurassic Park films, had a cameo appearance in Jurassic World, and served as a partial inspiration for one of the lead characters of the franchise, Dr. Alan Grant. Horner studied at the University of Montana, although he did not complete his degree due to undiagnosed dyslexia, and was awarded a Doctorate in Science honoris causa. He retired from Montana State University on July 1, 2016, although he claims to have been pushed out of the Museum of the Rockies after having married an undergraduate student and now teaches as a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University.

<i>Giganotosaurus</i> Carcharodontosaurid dinosaur genus from the late Cretaceous period

Giganotosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Argentina, during the early Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 99.6 to 95 million years ago. The holotype specimen was discovered in the Candeleros Formation of Patagonia in 1993 and is almost 70% complete. The animal was named Giganotosaurus carolinii in 1995; the genus name translates to "giant southern lizard", and the specific name honors the discoverer, Ruben Carolini. A dentary bone, a tooth, and some tracks, discovered before the holotype, were later assigned to this animal. The genus attracted much interest and became part of a scientific debate about the maximum sizes of theropod dinosaurs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fernbank Museum of Natural History</span> Natural history museum in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Fernbank Museum of Natural History, in Atlanta, Georgia, is a museum that presents exhibitions and programming about natural history. Fernbank Museum has a number of permanent exhibitions and regularly hosts temporary exhibitions in its expansive facility, designed by Graham Gund Architects. Giants of the Mesozoic, on display in the atrium of Fernbank Museum, features a 123-foot (37 m) long Argentinosaurus, the largest dinosaur ever classified; as well as a Giganotosaurus. The permanent exhibition, A Walk Through Time in Georgia, tells the twofold story of Georgia's natural history and the development of the planet. Fernbank Museum has won several national and international awards for one of its newest permanent exhibitions, Fernbank NatureQuest, an immersive, interactive exhibition for children that was designed and produced by Thinkwell Group. The awards NatureQuest has won include the 2012 Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement for a Museum Exhibit and the 2011 Bronze Award for Best Museum Environment from Event Design. The nearby Fernbank Science Center is a separate organization operated by the DeKalb County Board of Education and is not affiliated with Fernbank Museum of Natural History.

José Fernando Bonaparte was an Argentine paleontologist who discovered a plethora of South American dinosaurs and mentored a new generation of Argentine paleontologists. He has been described by paleontologist Peter Dodson as "almost singlehandedly...responsible for Argentina becoming the sixth country in the world in kinds of dinosaurs."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museo Carmen Funes</span>

Museo Municipal Carmen Funes, or, the Carmen Funes Municipal Museum, is a museum of paleontology in Plaza Huincul, Neuquén Province, Argentina. It is best known for its collection of dinosaur fossils, including the only specimen of the largest recorded dinosaur remains, Argentinosaurus huinculensis, and the only known sauropod embryos, which were discovered at a huge nesting site in Auca Mahuida, Patagonia. Its standard abbreviation is MCF-PVPH, or just PVPH to denote the paleontological collection.

Rodolfo Aníbal Coria, is an Argentine paleontologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dinosaur size</span> Dinosaur mass and length estimates

Size is an important aspect of dinosaur paleontology, of interest to both the general public and professional scientists. Dinosaurs show some of the most extreme variations in size of any land animal group, ranging from tiny hummingbirds, which can weigh as little as two grams, to the extinct titanosaurs, which could weigh as much as 50–100 t.

<i>Tyrannosaurus</i> in popular culture

Tyrannosaurus rex is unique among dinosaurs in its place in modern culture; paleontologist Robert Bakker has called it "the most popular dinosaur among people of all ages, all cultures, and all nationalities". Paleontologists Mark Norell and Lowell Dingus have likewise called it "the most famous dinosaur of all times." Paleoartist Gregory S. Paul has called it "the theropod. [...] This is the public's favorite dinosaur [...] Even the formations it is found in have fantastic names like Hell Creek and Lance." Other paleontologists agree with that and note that whenever a museum erects a new skeleton or bring in an animatronic model, visitor numbers go up. "Jurassic Park and King Kong would not have been the same without it." In the public mind, T. rex sets the standard of what a dinosaur should be. Science writer Riley Black similarly states, "In all of prehistory, there is no animal that commands our attention quite like Tyrannosaurus rex, the tyrant lizard king. Since the time this dinosaur was officially named in 1905, the enormous carnivore has stood as the ultimate dinosaur."

<i>Stegosaurus</i> in popular culture

Stegosaurus is one of the most recognizable types among cultural depictions of dinosaurs. It has been depicted on film, in cartoons, comics, as children's toys, as sculpture, and even was declared the state dinosaur of Colorado in 1982. Stegosaurus is a subject for inclusion in dinosaur toy and scale model lines, such as the Carnegie Collection.

<i>Land of Giants / The Giant Claw</i> 2002 British television documentary programmes

Land of Giants and The Giant Claw, marketed together as Chased by Dinosaurs in the United States, are two special episodes of the nature documentary television series Walking with Dinosaurs. Created by Impossible Pictures and produced by the BBC Studios Science Unit, the Discovery Channel and ProSieben, The Giant Claw was first broadcast on 30 December 2002, followed by Land of Giants on 1 January 2003. The two episodes stars British wildlife presenter Nigel Marven as a "time-travelling zoologist", interacting with dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures, a drastic change in presentation from preceding entries in the Walking with... franchise.

<i>Jurassic Park</i> American science fiction media franchise

Jurassic Park, later also referred to as Jurassic World, is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment bought the rights to Crichton's novel Jurassic Park before it was published. The book was successful, as was Steven Spielberg's 1993 film adaptation. The film received a theatrical 3D re-release in 2013, and was selected in 2018 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". A 1995 sequel novel, The Lost World, was followed by a film adaptation in 1997. Subsequent films in the series from Jurassic Park III (2001) onward are not based on novels by Crichton.

<i>Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia</i> 2007 film directed by Marc Fafard

Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia is a 2007 film about life in the Early Cretaceous of Patagonia, southern South America. It features paleontologist Rodolfo Coria and his work, with Donald Sutherland acting as main narrator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum</span> Natural history museum in Fukui Prefecture, Japan

The Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum, located in Katsuyama, Fukui, Japan, is one of the leading dinosaur museums in Asia that is renowned for its exhibits of fossil specimens of dinosaurs and paleontological research. It is sited in the Nagaoyama Park near the Kitadani Dinosaur Quarry that the Lower Cretaceous Kitadani Formation of the Tetori Group is cropped out and a large number of dinosaur remains including Fukuiraptor kitadaniensis and Fukuisaurus tetoriensis are found and excavated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Field Station: Dinosaurs</span>

Field Station: Dinosaurs is an outdoor prehistoric theme park with two locations in the United States. The park is designed for families with children between the ages of three and eleven. The parks both feature a walking tour with full-size, scientifically accurate animatronic dinosaurs along with interactive exhibits and live shows designed to educate children about dinosaurs within the context of the local ecosystem. The Executive Producer and Expedition Commander is Guy Gsell, a lifelong dinosaur enthusiast.

Dump Trump is a 16 feet (4.9 m) high statue of former United States President Donald Trump sitting on a golden toilet. The sculpture was temporarily installed in Central London's Trafalgar Square ahead of his 2019 visit to the United Kingdom, and displayed during the Trump-organised Salute to America in Washington, D.C., on 4 July 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernesto Bachmann Paleontological Museum</span> Science museum, Local museum in Neuquén Province, Argentina

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lego Jurassic World (theme)</span> Lego theme

Lego Jurassic World is a Lego theme based on the Jurassic World media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It is licensed from Universal Studios and Amblin Entertainment. The theme was introduced in June 2015, with the release of toy sets and the video game Lego Jurassic World, both to promote the film Jurassic World. Subsequent sets were released in 2018, alongside the next film, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Various animated projects have also been made, including the 2018 television special Lego Jurassic World: The Secret Exhibit, and the 2019 miniseries Lego Jurassic World: Legend of Isla Nublar.

Dinosaurs in <i>Jurassic Park</i> Dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park franchise

Jurassic Park, later also referred to as Jurassic World, is an American science fiction adventure media franchise. It focuses on the cloning of dinosaurs through ancient DNA, extracted from mosquitoes that have been fossilized in amber. The franchise explores the ethics of cloning and genetic engineering, and the morals behind de-extinction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rexy</span> Tyrannosaurus specimen from Jurassic Park

Rexy is the colloquial nickname for a fictional Tyrannosaurus rex that appears throughout the Jurassic Park franchise. She first appeared in Michael Crichton's 1990 novel Jurassic Park, and made her onscreen debut in the 1993 film adaptation, directed by Steven Spielberg. She returns in the 2015 film Jurassic World and its sequels, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022).

References

  1. Batcha, Becky (20 April 2015). "Meet 'Dino Don,' the Delco guy behind the Franklin Institute's upcoming Genghis Khan exhibit". Philly.com. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  2. "'Dino' Don Lessem on realistic animatronic dinosaurs, Trump and working with Spielberg". Blooloop. 2020-06-11. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  3. "Bankrolling A Dinosaur Dig And Unearthing A Giant: The Giganotosaurus". NPR.org. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  4. Lessem, Don Lessem. "Dino Don, Inc". Dino Don, Inc.
  5. O'Connor, S. M. (2020-07-21). ""Exhibit 'Dinos Everywhere!' Opens at Brookfield Zoo"". In the Garden City. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  6. "Media's "Dino Don" Lessem Makes a Career From Dinosaurs". Main Line Today. 2012-11-06. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  7. "The Dumping Trump Robot".
  8. staff, Paige Gross / (2021-05-14). "Meet Media's 'Dino Don' on the 'Shark Tank' season finale". Technical.ly. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  9. staff, Paige Gross / (2021-05-24). "A pitch with teeth: Media's Dino Don duo walked away from 'Shark Tank' with $500K from Mark Cuban". Technical.ly. Retrieved 2022-04-18.