The Spinosaurus

 

The giant Spinosaurus: Spinosaurus aegyptiacus (eqypt-a-cus), and Spinosaurus moroccanus (morocan-us). We will talk about the aegytiacus. Now let’s go back 99 million years to the Cretaceous period and learn how this beast acted and lived.

This large theropod dinosaur was first believed to be aquatic. Ernst von Stromer thought this because of its sail, and elongated snout which would be key for fishing. In studies on Spinosaurus bones, they found that they were extremely dense and would be good for staying submerged for a long period of time. To support this theory; the Spinosaurus had small holes on its snout, similar to crocodiles.

Since then, those theories have been debunked by Sereno’s team in 2014. To prove these theories wrong, Sereno showed the Spinosaurus’s center of balance was actually farther? than before and too buoyant to swim at low depths. Also, with its arms and legs, they would have just dangled, slowing it down drastically. He also proved the holes on its snout were also on some animals that don’t even live in an aquatic life style. All these together has made Sereno believe that Spinosaurus was a shoreline ambush predator.

Knowing that the Spinosaurus may have been a shoreline ambush predator, it most likely would have hunted fish and unsuspecting animals drinking. Some specific animals it may have hunted could have been Rugops, (a small carnivore), Charcardontosaurus, (a large carnivore), deltadromius, (a noasauridae), and pterosaurs (flying reptiles, not dinosaurs).

For more information you can go on to YouTube and search up “BBC Spinosaurus” where they explain how it MAY have lived back in the times of dinosaurs. They teach by using similar animals that may have lived like Spinosaurus and attempt to use that information to create a realistic one. Be warned, the model for BBC earth is not up to date.

The Spinosaurus and its combat abilities (these are not facts just semi-realistic hypothesis’). I believe the Spinosaurus would have mainly used its jaws to cripple its prey, and then tear away its flesh with its claws. Also, with a giant tail they would be able to do heavy blows. An example would be a crocodile or alligator. Spinosaurus was also the largest carnivore dinosaur.

Since it was the largest it would have had many advantages like more biteforce, weight, and size in a battle. The Spinosaurus comes in at 46-59 feet in length and around 6-9 tons. Which is about 12000 -18000 pounds.

The Spinosaurus, was without a doubt, an apex predator in its area. Its main competition would have been the charcardontosaurus, which was a huge dinosaur coming in at about 7ish tons, which is a little bit less than Spinosaurus. Comparing bite forces: Spinosaurus came out with about 4200 psi and the charcardontosaurus with about 3000 psi. This would give the Spinosaurus a huge advantage with more biteforce, weight, and size. It would have been a force to be reckoned with.

Retro vs modern Spinosaurus. Knowing that the Spinosaurus fossils have been nearly impossible to find, paleontologists had to use similar looking animals and spinosaurids like baryonx and suchomimus to find a well guessed appearance. Here is an example of how its model has evolved over the years.

The Spinosaurus was a huge, amazing beast. It’s crazy how humans have found out the spinosaurs diet, semi-aquatic/shoreline ambush predator lifestyle, combat abilities, where it was on the food chain, and comparing old and new models.