Spinosaurus | Facts & Information

# Spinosaurus | Facts & Information

Spinosaurus | Discover Fascinating Facts and Information About Spinosaurus

This genus was the first known genus discovered in Egypt in 1912. It was described in German by palentologist Ernst Stromer in 1915.

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Spinosaurus

Spinosaurus

Spinosaurus: The Most Famous Carnivorous Marine Dinosaur

Spinosaurus is one of the most fascinating dinosaurs that ever existed. This prehistoric creature lived during the Cretaceous period, approximately 112-97 million years ago. One of the most remarkable aspects of Spinosaurus is the fact that it was one of the few dinosaurs that could adapt to both land and water.

Spinosaurus was an incredibly large animal, weighing about 7-9 tons and measuring around 15-18 meters in length. This makes it one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs that ever existed. Its distinctive feature was the sail-like crest on its back, which measured about 1.7 meters in height and 2 meters in length. However, there is much speculation about the real function of the crest. Some researchers suggest that it had a thermoregulatory role, while others believe the crest could have been used to attract sexual partners.

Another notable aspect of Spinosaurus was its extremely long arms and long, sharp claws. These characteristics suggest that Spinosaurus was efficient in fishing and hunting in water. Additionally, its claws and arms would have been useful for capturing prey or holding onto plants or trees while moving on land.

However, their main weapons were their giant teeth and wide open jaws. The spinosaur teeth reached a length of about 20 centimeters and were as sharp as a knife. These giant, sharp teeth, along with the powerful jaws, suggest that Spinosaurus specialized in hunting large fish and other marine creatures. Its prey even included sharks and plesiosaurs.

Perhaps the most famous specimen of Spinosaurus was discovered in the 1910s in the Sahara region, now the modern territory of Morocco. However, during World War II, the skeleton of this dinosaur was destroyed during bombings. This made it difficult to document and study this amazing animal.

To better understand the structure and lifestyle of Spinosaurus, paleontologists heavily rely on fossils found in other regions of the world. With the help of these fossils, scientists have been able to reconstruct the appearance and lifestyle of this impressive dinosaur.

Although Spinosaurus was an incredibly fascinating animal, many details about it remain unclear to researchers. There is still much debate about its mode of movement and how it fed.

In conclusion, Spinosaurus is an impressive prehistoric dinosaur that stands out for its gigantic size and adaptability to the environment. With its distinctive sail-like crest, long sharp claws, and giant teeth, Spinosaurus was certainly a fearsome predator in the Cretaceous Kingdom. However, many aspects of Spinosaurus' life and behavior still remain a mystery, awaiting future discoveries that will help us better understand this amazing animal.

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Facts

The name Spinosaurus means spine lizard, it is part of the genus theropoda that lived on the land where it is now located in North Africa.

The original evidence was destroyed in World War II, but new evidence has been discovered in recent years.

Description

Spinosaurus may be the largest carnivore of all dinosaurs, even larger than Tyrannosaurus or Giganotosaurus. Estimates published in 2005 and 2007 indicate that it was 13-18m long and 7-20 tonnes in weight.

The skull is long and narrow, similar to that of a modern-day Crocodile. It is believed that Spinosaurus fed on fish, evidence suggests that it lived both on land and in water, just like a crocodile.

The distinctive spines on the back, which were long extensions of the vertebrae, had lengths of at least 1.65 m. it is suspected that the spines were covered in skin and that this skin would be joined to the top of the spines, like a fan.

Some say the spines would have been covered in fat and Spinosaurus would have been shaped like a bison. Several functions have been attributed to these spines, including temperature regulation and appearance.

Head

Spinosaurus is known for its elongated skull, large size and spines on its back. The skull had in the front part a narrow snout with straight and conical teeth without grooves.

There were six or seven teeth on each side of the jaw, on top and on the bottom.

It is estimated that this skull of Spinosaurus was about 1.75 m long. The shape and size of the skull may vary depending on the species.

Dimensions

Since its discovery Spinosaurus has been one of the largest dinosaurs. And Friedrich von Huene in 1926 and Donald F. Glut in 1982 mentioned that it is one of the most massive dinosaurs, having a length of 15m and a weight from 6-7 tons to over 20 tons.

In 1988 Gregory pavel mentioned that it is indeed the longest theropod with a length of 15m, but regarding the weight he stated that Spinosaurus weighs about 4 tons.

In a 2007 paper Francois Therrien and Donald Henderson using scaling based on Skull length disputed all previous estimates saying that length is and weight is too small.

Based on the estimated skull length of 1.5 to 1.75 m their estimates reach 12.6 – 14.5 m relative to a body mass of 12 – 20 tonnes. Estimates that make Spinosaurus smaller and lighter than Carcharodontosaurus and Gigantosaurus.

These estimates have been disputed for comparison fossil choice.

To improve size accuracy, complete or more accurate bone discovery is needed. Currently, the bones of the limbs are not discovered.

Fish or bison ?

The very high spines on the animal's back were the basis of a principle that is used by some animals to move in water. The length of the neural spines reached ten times the length of the diameters of the vertebrae.

They are longer at the front. These spines were unusual, although other dinosaurs, namely Ouranosaurus, which lived several million years before in the same region had similar bony spines.

Some say these similar structures developed during their adaptation to the environment and parallel evolution.

On the other hand, this bone structure of Spinosaurus that is similar to other dinosaurs (Ouranosaurus, Edaphosaurus, Dimetrodon, etc.) was covered with fat according to Stromer in 1915 and Jack Bowman Bailey in 1997.

The two and others support the hypothesis that these spiked dinosaurs may have been extinct bison similar to Megacerops and Latifrons Bison.

Specimens

To date six partial specimens have been described. The first, BSP 1912 VIII 19, described by Stromer in 1915 which was destroyed in World War 2 on the night of 24 to 25 April 1944 by a British bombardment of Munich.

However detailed drawings and descriptions of the model remain. Stromer's son donated the archives to the senior in 1995.

Another specimen, NMC 50791, is held by the canadian Museum of nature. It was described by Russell in 1996. Russell said only general information could be provided.

The specimen MNHN SAM 124 is just a snout held by the National Museum of Natural History (in France). The last 3 copies as well as the first ones are incomplete (BM231, UCPC-2, MSNM V4047). They can be found at the University of Chicago, Tunis, and the Natural History Museum in Milan. Possible found material belonging to Spinosaurus was found in Kenya and Tunisia.

Spinosaurus Feed

It is not clear that Spinosaurus was primarily a prey animal or a fish eater as indicated by its elongated jaws, tapered teeth and raised nostrils. The hypothesis that it is a fish eater is supported by the resemblance of the snout to that of crocodiles.

An isotopic analysis by Romain Amiot and colleagues in 2010 found that the ratio of oxygen isotopes in teeth indicates a semi-aquatic lifestyle.

They said the animal frequented the two areas competing with both land and aquatic animals for food.

On television

Spinosaurus could be seen in the movie Jurassic Park 3 in 2001. Palentologist John R. Horner said,"based on the ferocity factor of the animal, there is nothing that lived on this planet that would match this creature".

In the film Spinosaurus was portrayed as a larger and more powerful animal than Tyrannosaurus who has been compared to a street sweeper.

Besides the film Spinosaurus has been shown to the public on stamps (Angola, Gambia, Tanzania) and in documentaries.

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