Spinosaurus Facts
Below are some of the facts about Spinosaurus:
- Spinosaurus means ‘spine lizard’ and they lived on present day North Africa during the Cretaceous Period.
- The Spinosaurus are considered to be the largest carnivorous animal on earth. While a T. Rex used to weigh around 8 tons, they weighed around 7 to 20 tons. They were almost equal to 3 elephants or when they stood they were about 6 stories high.
- There were found 110 years ago in the region that is now Egypt and Morocco.
- The skull of the Spinosaurus was long and thin and it measured about 5 to 5.74 ft. it resembled like a crocodile of present day as they had jaws that were widely spaced.
- In their skull the nostril was near the eyes and not at the end of the snout.
- The first Spinosaurus was found by Richard Markgraf in 1912 in western Egypt. However, during the heavy bombing in Munich during the World War 2, the original specimen was destroyed.
- Many scientists believe the fact that they were the first swimming dinosaurs. They used to hunt both mammals on land and fishes from water.
- Different evidence shows that. Like the long jaws were filled with cylindrical teeth that were widely spaced. This is considered that this adaptation help them for catching fish.
- Even their nostril location also shows that they must have been spending time under the waterline. So their nostril were located at such place.
- Spinosaurus had got their name due to the sail they had on their back. There is controversy over the use of the sail that the Spinosaurus had.
- Some believe that it helped them maintain their body temperature while others suggest that it was a way of attracting the female.
- There is some controversy over the fact that whether the Spinosaurus were found in two species or not. While some of the Paleontologists suggested that Spinosaurus maroccanus were found in Morocco and the Spinosaurus aegyptiacus was found in Egypt, other believe that there were only one specie.
- Teeth of Spinosaurus was found on the Pterosaur fossils. It shows that the diet of the Spinosaurus was not only fish. They enjoyed something else too.
- All knowledge about the Spinosaurus comes from the 6 specimen that has been available from different sites.
- Spinosaurus had long front legs and scientists suggest that they might be using it for walking on four legs sometimes. Again, all these are thoughts as everything is guessed from the 6 specimens.