In the novel, Dr. Ellie Sattler is a graduate student studying under Grant, and accompanies him on the tour of InGen's dinosaur preserve. She is from Montana and specializes in paleobotany. Although she is initially thrilled to see the park, she finds poisonous plants in public areas and near swimming pools, and is angered by how little attention the staff has given to reproducing prehistoric plant life. While the rest of the group returns to the Visitor Center, Ellie stays with veterinarian Dr. Harding, to take pictures of a sick "Stegosaurus". After the "Tyrannosaurus" attack, she helps Harding care for Ian Malcolm's injuries. During the "Velociraptor" assault on the Visitor Center, Ellie uses herself as bait to distract the pack of raptors trying to get into the lodge. Although she survives the events of the novel, she is only briefly mentioned in its sequel, in which she is known as Ellie Sattler Reiman. It is stated that she married a physicist and gives guest lectures at his university while raising two children.