Robert Burke

Dr. Robert Burke was a paleontologist hired by Peter Ludlow to be the team's resident dinosaur expert. Robert was much less than an expert, incorrectly identifying a Compsognathus. Also he might not have known that the dinosaurs were created by InGen because he says about no visitors and no reason for them to fear man. When the Tyrannosaurus rex attacked the camp Burke ran with Sarah, Nick, and Kelly into the waterfall where the T. rex couldn't reach them. However, Burke spotted a harmless milk snake slithering into his shirt and as he tried to get the snake out he slipped and his arm fell into the jaws of the T. rex where he was eaten and killed with his blood flowing down the waterfall.

Trivia

 * He made a clear reference to the real-life paleontologist, Robert Bakker, who started the theory that dinosaurs were warm blooded.
 * He may also be based on George Baselton from The Lost World (novel).
 * It is interesting to note that the snake crawling down his shirt was a harmless milksnake, so it would appear foolish of him to panic and eventually get eaten by the tyrannosaur. Perhaps he thought it was a coral snake or he suffered from ophidiophobia (the fear of snakes).
 * He made a theory that "T. rex parents always abandoned their offspring", and Sarah Harding tries to prove that his theory is wrong.
 * In real life, Bakker has argued for a predatory T. rex, while Bakker's rival paleontologist Jack Horner views it as primarily a scavenger. According to Horner, Spielberg wrote the character of Burke and had him killed by the T. rex as a favor for Horner. After the film came out, Bakker recognized himself in Burke, loved the caricature, and actually sent Horner a message saying, "See, I told you T. rex was a hunter!".