He holds a master's degree in science journalism from New York University, and a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Hawaii. These fossils were destroyed in April 1944 when British aircraft inadvertently bombed the museum in Munich in which they were housed. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, [18], The subfamily Spinosaurinae was named by Sereno in 1998, and defined by Holtz and colleagues (2004) as all taxa closer to Spinosaurus aegyptiacus than to Baryonyx walkeri. Precambrian: Facts About the Beginning of Time, Cenozoic Era: Facts About Climate, Animals & Plants, Quaternary Period: Climate, Animals & Other Facts. A territorial carnivore, Spinosaurus is among the largest predators available to the Hammond Foundation.In comparison to carnivores such as Tyrannosaurus and the . [37][38], In 2014, Ibrahim and his colleagues suggested that Spinosaurus aegyptiacus could reach over 15 metres (49ft) in length. And a close contemporary of Spinosaurus was the north African Ouranosaurus, a hadrosaur (duck-billed dinosaur) equipped with either a true sail or a thick, fatty hump of tissue that it used to store fats and liquids (like a modern camel). Artwork by Scott Hartman reveals the bone structure of Spinosaurus. By Kate Golembiewski Jul 18, 2022 1:00 PM (Credit: Herschel Hoffmeyer/Shutterstock) Newsletter Other paleontologists have hypothesized thatSpinosaurusused its sail to regulate its body temperature by absorbing heat or storing fat. Das Original des Theropoden, "A long-snouted predatory dinosaur from Africa and the evolution of spinosaurids", 10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0236:ROADTF]2.0.CO;2, 10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0888:NIOTSO]2.0.CO;2, "A new specimen of Spinosaurus (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Lower Cretaceous of Tunisia, with remarks on the evolutionary history of the Spinosauridae", "New data on spinosaurid dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous of the Sahara", "A reappraisal of the morphology and systematic position of the theropod dinosaur, "Semiaquatic adaptations in a giant predatory dinosaur", "Theropoda: Spinosaurus Revolution, Episodio IV: Una soluzione a tutti gli enigmi? Multiple functions have been put forward for the dorsal sail, including thermoregulation and display; either to intimidate rivals or attract mates. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 'spine lizard') is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa during the Cenomanian to upper Turonian stages of the Late Cretaceous period, about 99 to 93.5million years ago. By Hannah Docter-Loeb June 09, 20228:00 PM Photo illustration by. If the structure contained abundant blood vessels, the animal could have used the sail's large surface area to absorb heat. [19] This conclusion was further supported in 2018 by Arden and colleagues, who consider Sigilmassasaurus to be a distinct genus, though a very close relative of Spinosaurus, the two unified in the tribe Spinosaurini, coined in the study. Large animals, due to the relatively small ratio of surface area of their body compared to the overall volume (Haldane's principle), face far greater problems of dissipating excess heat at higher temperatures than gaining it at lower. They are heavier and larger than other dinosaurs. [7], MNHN SAM 124, housed at the Musum National d'Histoire Naturelle, is a snout (consisting of partial premaxillae, partial maxillae, vomers, and a dentary fragment). [57] They highlight the positioning of the nostrils and orbits as one reason why a crocodile-like lifestyle is unlikely: they are ventrally positioned in such a way that the whole head would have to be lifted inefficiently out of the water in order to breathe. [Images: Digging Up a Swimming Dinosaur Called Spinosaurus]. Spinosaurus (meaning "spine lizard", from Latin spina and Greek sauros) appears as a dangerous pointable animal in Carnivores 2 and Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter . [42], Many elaborate body structures of modern-day animals serve to attract members of the opposite sex during mating. [54] A 2018 study by Donald Henderson, however, refutes the claim that Spinosaurus was semiaquatic. It consists of a partial anterior dentary 11.5 centimeters (4.5in) in length from an early Albian stratum of the Chenini Formation of Tunisia. Spinosaurus, the Biggest Carnivore Spinosaurus was a carnivorous dinosaur that lived during the Middle Cretaceous period, about 93-100 million years ago, in what is now Egypt, Morocco, and the Republic of Niger. Heres how it works. It is only due to Stromer's meticulous notes, including detailed descriptions and sketches, that much of the scant knowledge surrounding this dinosaur has been retained. A bewildering array of meat-eating dinosaurs lived during the Mesozoic Era. These include: MHNM.KK374 to .KK378 are five isolated quadrates (skull bones) of different sizes that were collected by locals and acquired commercially in I'm no Palaeontologist, but I have a hunch that the Baryonyx is the carnivore. [4] The skull of Spinosaurus was long, low, and narrow, similar to that of a modern crocodilian, and bore straight conical teeth with no serrations. They specifically wrote:[48], Spinosaurus anatomy exhibits another feature that may have a modern analogy: its long tail resembled that of the thresher shark, employed to slap the water to herd and stun shoals of fish before devouring them (Oliver and colleagues, 2013). "[77] He has since retracted the statement about T. rex being a scavenger. II. (2023, April 5). [32] Both Friedrich von Huene in 1926[33] and Donald F. Glut in 1982 listed it as among the most massive theropods in their surveys, at 15 meters (49ft) in length and upwards of 6 metric tons (6.6 short tons) in weight. Titanosaurs: 8 of the World's Biggest Dinosaurs, Wild Words from the Animal Kingdom Vocabulary Quiz, https://www.britannica.com/animal/Spinosaurus, Livescience - Spinosaurus: The Largest Carnivorous Dinosaur, National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Spinosaurus is not an aquatic dinosaur. Russell stated that "only general locality information could be provided" for the specimen, and therefore it could be dated only "possibly" to the Albian. Spinosaurus Scientific Classification Kingdom Animalia Phylum Chordata Order Saurischia Family Spinosauridae Genus Spinosaurus Scientific Name Spinosaurus aegyptiacus Read our Complete Guide to Classification of Animals. Stromer speculated that the size of the neural spines may have differed between males and females. It may have been able to spread the sail when threatened or looking to attract a mate. This type of foot morphology is also seen in shorebirds, indicating that Spinosaurus's feet evolved for walking across unstable substrate and that they may have been webbed. It possessed a skull 1.75 metres (roughly 6 feet) long, a body length of 14-18 metres (46-59 feet), and an estimated mass of 12,000-20,000 kg (13-22 tons). When they slash or wipe their bills through shoaling fish by turning their heads, their dorsal sail and fins are outstretched to stabilize their bodies hydrodynamically (Lauder & Drucker, 2004). should be assigned to Spinosaurus or Sigilmassasaurus. [55][56], Recent studies of the tail vertebrae of Spinosaurus refute Henderson's proposal that Spinosaurus mainly inhabited areas of land near and in shallow water and was too buoyant to submerge. for thresher sharks). [5] The hip bones of Spinosaurus were reduced, and the legs were very short in proportion to the body. In 1915, the spinosaurus fossil was found in Egypt and morocco. Its name, Spinosaurus, means "spine lizard ." This refers to the large, spiny, fin-like sail on top of its back, at least 6 feet tall. Science Jurassic World 's New Big Bad Dinosaur Was Supposedly the Biggest Carnivore Ever. The best known species is S. aegyptiacus from Egypt, although a potential second species, S. maroccanus, has been recovered from Morocco. https://www.thoughtco.com/things-to-know-spinosaurus-1093798 (accessed July 5, 2023). Other specimens referred to S. maroccanus in the same paper were two other mid-cervical vertebrae (NMC 41768 and NMC 50790), an anterior dentary fragment (NMC 50832), a mid-dentary fragment (NMC 50833), and an anterior dorsal neural arch (NMC 50813). As a carnivore, the Tyrannosaurus Rex also maintained a heavyweight from muscles and a high-protein diet. A 2022 study by Fabbri et al., made comparisons of Spinosaurus' bone structure and compared it to that of Baryonyx and Suchomimus. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. For more than a century, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus took on many forms as scientists struggled to reconstruct it. They erected both the subfamily and the family Baryonychidae for the newly discovered Baryonyx, before it was referred to Spinosauridae. This gives credence to the theory that it mostly survived on fish and carcasses. This was based on looking at the specimens assigned to Oxalaia, and the supposed autapomorphies of this taxon to be insignificant and fall within the hypodigm of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. 10 Facts About Spinosaurus. de; and Lavocat, R. (1955). Combined with its piscivorous (fish-eating) diet, this would make SpinosaurustheMesozoicmirror-image of contemporary grizzly bears, which are mostly quadrupedal but invariably rear up on their hind legs when threatened or upset. [45], Spinosaurus gives its name to the dinosaur family Spinosauridae, which includes two subfamilies: Baryonychinae and Spinosaurinae. Because of its size, this dinosaur did not have many predators, but the sail could have been used to ward off enemies, as the dinosaur would have appeared to be twice its size with the sail fully extended. The sail may be an analog of the sail of the Permian synapsid Dimetrodon, which lived before the dinosaurs even appeared, produced by convergent evolution. Below you'll discover 10 fascinating facts about Spinosaurus, ranging from its ten-ton size to the various types of sharp teeth embedded in its elongated snout. Spinosaurus was the biggest of all the carnivorous dinosaurs, larger than Tyrannosaurus and Giganotosaurus. [10], Six main partial specimens of Spinosaurus have been described. The distinctive neural spines of Spinosaurus, which were long extensions of the vertebrae (or backbones), grew to at least 1.65 meters (5.4ft) long and were likely to have had skin connecting them, forming a sail-like structure, although some authors have suggested that the spines were covered in fat and formed a hump. [35], In 2009, Dal Sasso and colleagues. [42], The structure may have been used for thermoregulation.
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