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Spinosaurus aegypticus (Original)

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Description

Named by Ernst Stromer Von Reichenbach, 1915
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore (It feeds on fish, including the 33-foot-sawfish Onchopristis, the giant lunghfish Retodus tuberculatus, and the largest coelacanth that was several meters long, Mawsonia. But it may have also preyed on small or medium-sized dinosaurs and pterosaurs, as well as scavenging on carrion, due to its large size and in times of stress, as well as in the evidence of other spinosaurids)
Length: 50 feet (15 meters) 
Weight: 7.5 tons 
Region: Northern Africa-Egypt (Bahariya Formation) and Morocco (Kem Kem Beds) (Note: Teeth and fragmentary remains, believed to be those of this dinosaur, were found in various regions of Northern Africa)
Age: 112-97 million BC (Lower Albian-Lower Cenomanian stage of the Mid-Late Cretaceous)
Rivals: Carcharodontosaurus saharicus and Bahariasaurus ingens, as well as large crocodilians such as Aegisuchus

Made famous as the T. rex-killing villain of Jurassic Park III (2001), Spinosaurus is one of the largest meat-eating dinosaur (or theropod) and in 2014, it became the first nonavian dinosaur to reveal a more semi-aquatic lifestyle. 

At estimated up to over 50 feet in length and weighing nearly 8 tons, this was a colossal killer, longer than Tyrannosaurus rex

It was first discovered in 1912 in the Bahariya Formation in Egypt by German paleontologist, Ernst Stromer during his quest to recover fossils from the North African rocks and was kept in a museum in Munich, Germany. But, sadly, on April 24th, 1944, during World War II, an allied forces bombed the museum and all of the fossils that Stromer found, including those of Spinosaurus, were destroyed, but only the drawings and photographs of it survived.

Since then, no complete, good specimen of this giant predator has ever been found and only fragments of it, especially the teeth, were found in various parts of North Africa. But in 1975, a new skull was unearthed in Southern Morocco, east of the town of Taouz, and was housed in a private collection in Milan, Italy.

In 1996, paleontologist Paul Sereno and his team unearthed another, badly eroded, specimen in the Kem Kem Beds of northern Morocco, but it was first unidentified. It was languished in the University of Chicago's collection cases and was catalouged specimen UCPC-2.

Then in 2002, the Civic Natural History Museum in Milan acquires the 1975 specimen, catalogued as MSNM V4047, and studied by Cristiano Dal Sasso and colleagues. They also describe UCPC-2 and identified it as the bony crest that decorated the top of Spinosaurus's snout.

In 2005, Dal Sasso and his colleagues published the results of their research, arguing that Spinosaurus was a giant predator, bigger than T.rex.

Meaning "Spine Lizard", the most bizarre and unique feature of this giant theropod was that it had distinctive spines, growing to at least over 5 feet long, extending from its vertebrae and were likely skin connected, forming a sail-like structure rising from its back. It was probably used to attract mates and that the males would've had a brightly colored sail for a display. In life, the sail would've had blood vessels inside and used to flush blood, changing color to ward off rival males and attract the opposite sex. The fin would've also been used to ward off any other large predators that it shared with, such as Carcharodontosaurus and Bahariasaurus, ensuring them that they don't come close to their hunting territory.

As a spinosaurid, Spinosaurus had a long, pointy, narrow snout like those of modern-day crocodiles with cone-shaped teeth and nostrils placed high from the snout. Until recently, little is known about what this dinosaur looked like and during those days, Spinosaurus was depicted as having a large, deep, carnosaur-like head. But thanks to some of the fragmentary remains such as the teeth and jaws and the discovery of Baryonyx walkeri and other of its close relatives, we now know what this dinosaur looked, how it fed, and behaved. 

Scientists now believed that Spinosaurus is primarily icthyophagus, a fish-eater. Not only did it have a long crocodile-like snout and nostrils placed high on top of the snout, but it's sharp, conical teeth like those in modern crocodiles, were designed to grip and grab to prey instead of slashing and tearing into flesh as in most predatory dinosaurs. That way, these teeth were perfect for catching a fast, slippery, slimy fish.  Even the jaw fragment MSNM V4047 has what is thought to be a vertebrae of a Cretaceous sawfish (Onchopristis). 

However, in 2013, a study on the skulls of Spinosaurus concluded that bio-mechanical data suggests that they were not obligate piscivores and that their diet was more closely associated with its size (phenomena.nationalgeographic.c…). Its likely that Spinosaurus was probably a generalized and opportunistic predator, hunting and preying not only on fish, but also on pterosaurs and small to medium-sized dinosaurs, as well as scavenging on carcasses, due to its large size and during times of seasonal change. Direct evidence of spinosaurid diet comes from Baryonyx with not only fish remains, but also juvenile Iguanodon bones found in its stomach. Also a Brazilian pterosaur was found a spinosaurid tooth stuck in its vertebrae. This was evidence that spinosaurs were generalists specializing in small prey of any kind and scavenging. 

During the time Spinosaurus lived, Northern Africa, where it was found, was contended with shoreline conditions on tidal flats and channels, living in mangrove forests. This would've been a perfect habitat for Spinosaurus as the waters were filled with bony and cartilaginous fish to hunt and feed. There were also crocodilians, turtles, plesiosaurs, lizards, and pterosaurs living in the region, along with sauropods such as Paralatitan and Aegyptosaurus and the smaller theropod Deltadromeus. But there were also other large theropods living in the region, Carcharodontosaurus and Bahariasaurus which appeared to have occupied a more land-based niche in the ecosystem. But, however, during the dry season, Spinosaurus may have driven into their territories in desperation of food (A vertebrae of a Spinosaurus was found with a bitemark thought to be made by a Carcharodontosaurus).

In 2009, CAT scanning on MSNM V4047 show that Spinosaurus had tiny tiny pores and passages in its snout bones, similar to those seen in modern-day crocodiles. They were used to detect the tiniest disturbances in the water and that way Spinosaurus could detect its prey by touch, simply resting its jaws on the water surface, ready to pounce at any fish. 

In 2010, chemical analysis by Romain Amiot of the University of Lyon and colleagues found that oxygen isotope ratio of spinosaurid teeth, including those of Spinosaurus, shows that it had a semi-aquatic lifestyle. They tested a number of spinosaur remains alongside those of other large, fully terrestrial predators like Carcharodontosaurus, as well as those of crocodilians and turtles. The results show that the spinosaur remains contained oxygen isotopes that were more similar to those of crocodiles and turtles than they were to those of the land-living dinosaurs.

In 2014, new fossils from the Kem Kem Beds in Morocco extracted from a private collector in 2008, has provided scientists a more detailed look about the dinosaur. Paleontologists, Nizar Ibrahim and Paul Sereno from the University of Chicago had finally piece together the information from the old drawings of Stromer's specimens, the fragments of bones, and the new specimens and accurately reconstruct the dinosaur. 

The specimen he and his researchers found, however, was a 30-foot subadult. But using the partial snout fragment belonging to a giant adult Spinosaurus found in the 1990's Morocco that was much larger than his specimen, Ibrahim found the actual adult size of the dinosaur by scaling up his specimen to match the size of the snout. The result was that Spinosaurus was up to 50 feet (15 meters) from snout-to-tail and weighing 7.5 tons, making it longer than Tyrannosaurus. This makes this the longest of the theropods and one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs that ever lived. 

This also shows something even more bizarre: a more water-going dinosaur. Ibrahim and the researchers noticed that the proportions were really bizarre. The hind limbs and pelvis were very short compared to those in other predatory dinosaurs with muscular thighs, the foot claws were wide, and the feet almost paddle-shaped. This was an adaptation for life mainly spent in the water. The first ever seen on a nonavian dinosaur. Even the bones are very dense and is important for buoyancy in the water. This meant that the animal was clearly not agile on land.  Theropods could not rotate the hand so the palm faced the ground, but a resting position on the side of the hand was possible (as fossil prints of Early Jurassic theropods show), meaning that the dinosaur was a knuckle-walker (like the extinct chalicothere mammals). It also had a long neck and trunk that would've shifted the dinosaur's center of mass forward with facilitated movement in the water. The paddle-like feet and nostrils placed on its head would allow it to submerge with ease, swimming through the water to catch any large fish it comes across. That way, it wouldn't face any competition with Carcharodontosaurus and any of the giant, land-based theropods it shared with for prey, but would've competed with the large crocodilians that also inhabited the waterways. This discovery has drastically changed our view of Spinosaurus and while it did met some criticism by some scientists (Paleontologist John Hutchinson has expressed skepticism on the new reconstruction, claiming that the pelvis and hind limbs were from a juvenile and cautioned that using different specimens can result to inaccurate chimeras, while Scott Hartman also expressed criticism, believing that the hindlimbs and pelvis were 27% too short and don't match the published lengths; www.skeletaldrawing.com/home/t…), responses from Ibrahim have been positively received as reliable.
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However, as with other specialized dinosaurs, this theropod's extreme power and adaptation in one environment meant that in another, its proved to be eventually its downfall. Around 97 million years ago during the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period, the climate changed and global sea levels begin to rise. As a result, the environment gradually became drier and the coastal, swampy habitats that once covered Northern Africa and the food sources within them disappeared. Unable to adapt to these changes, Spinosaurus, one of the largest of the predatory dinosaurs and the first to show a semi-aquatic lifestyle, was doomed. :(No, I disagree! 

Note: Since there is criticism on the new reconstruction, I decided to keep the original!
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MakairodonX's avatar
The old pre 2014 spino