Name meaning: Spiny Lizard
Height: 4 meters
Length: 18 meters (60 feet)
Weight: Around 20 tonnes
Spinosaurus was a theropod dinosaur that existed in what is now North Africa, from the Albian to early Cenomanian stages of the Cretaceous Period, about 112 to 97 million years ago. According to recent estimates, Spinosaurus is the largest of all known carnivorous dinosaurs, even larger than Tyrannosaurus rex and Giganotosaurus. These estimates suggest that it was around 16 meters (54 feet) in length and up to 9 tons in weight. This genus was first known from a set of Egyptian remains discovered in 1912 and described in 1915 by German paleontologist and aristocrat Ernst Stromer. These original remains were sadly destroyed in an Allied bombing run over Berlin during World War II, but additional skull material has come to light in recent years. It is unclear whether one or two species are represented in the described fossils. The best-known species is Spinosaurus aegyptiacus from Egypt, although a potential second species named Spinosaurus maroccanus has been discovered in Morocco in recent times.
The skull of Spinosaurus was long and narrow, similar to that of a modern crocodilian. Spinosaurus is known to have eaten fish, and most scientists believe that it hunted both terrestrial and aquatic prey; evidence suggests that it lived both on land and in water as a modern crocodilian does. The distinctive spines of Spinosaurus, which were long extensions of the vertebrae, grew to at least 1.65 meters (5.4 ft) 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. Multiple functions have been put forward for this structure, including thermoregulation and display.
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