
Introduction:
Spinosaurus, my favorite dinosaur of all time. The first time I ever saw a dinosaur, it was the Spinosaurus from Jurassic Park III and the way the dinosaur was portrayed in the film made it my favorite dinosaur. I loved the design, the color and the action scenes were absolutely amazing. It was like the coolest dinosaur ever and it still is to me. It did not look like any basic theropod which is why I started to get interested and learn about dinosaurs and from then on, dinosaurs have stuck with me for the rest of my life. All thanks to its’ appearance in Jurassic Park III. But what I had not known about Spinosaurus is that it has such a tragic discovery and how we do not know much about it. And that makes it more intriguing for paleontologists and dinosaur enthusiasts like me to learn more about this dinosaur.
Spinosaurus became popular after its’ appearance in the Jurassic Park III film because of which many expeditions are held to discover more and more fossils of it. The film helped this obscure dinosaur to rise up in the public consciousness and cause more research and discoveries to happen. This is the perfect relationship with entertainment and science helping each other out and with the rumors of Spinosaurus reappearing in the new film, Jurassic World Rebirth, it is the perfect moment to learn more about this dinosaur before we head into the theaters to see it again in cinematic glory.
Discovery:
Spinosaurus has one of the most complex discovery history and it all began in the year of 1912, when a German paleontology expedition led by Richard Markgraf went to Bahariya Formation of western Egypt and discovered a partial skeleton of a huge theropod. After 3 years, the German paleontologist Ernst Stromer in 1915, described the fossils found as Spinosaurus aegypticus. Now, some sources might say they found the whole skeleton but that is actually not true, as I said earlier, they only found partial skeleton.
Now, what do I mean by partial skeleton. What I mean is that they found some parts from the whole body but not entirely. The 1912 fossils consisted of partial lower jaw, couple of neck bones and around 7 spine bones with some attached ribs. That is what they had found at that time. They also did more expeditions and found more back bones and leg bones but further research by Ernst Stromer showed that they belonged to different dinosaurs and not Spinosaurus.
Because of that very partial skeleton, they did not know what they had would go on to become a whole new family tree of theropod dinosaurs which now consists of 11 genera with many not described but found in many other countries where one would not expect like Japan. Back to Spinosaurus, so the design of Spinosaurus back then was atrocious and not cool at all. It looked a generic Allosaurus with a sail on the back. I am surprised how the lower jaw did not signal them that it does not look like other theropods like an Allosaurus. Super disappointed with how it looked and I am happy that I grew up with the Jurassic Park version in place of this atrocity.

Even so, the fossil discover did bring forth a new dinosaur and from this point on, any other finds of Spinosaurus would be compared to see if the new finds match with the original find. You might hear of the word ‘holotype‘ and I was also confused with what it meant and what the means is that it is the original version of a certain genera of animal with which it can be compared and contrasted for classification in the family tree. You can consider it as a template and because of this, no baby or teenage version of animals can be considered as holotype. Now you know what holotype means and not get confused any more by it.
And all seems good for now but then World War II arrived and the war destroyed the only fossil find of Spinosaurus into dust. All that was left was a photo and sketches of the fossil. The museum was blown to bits which housed the fossil in bombings in Munich, Germany. Wars like this and more that happens daily causes many fossils, known or unknown, to be lost to time. It really is tragic studying life of the old because not only are they extinct and can never be brought back but also, we may never get to know some lifeforms that would be so cool and interesting.


Time went on and Spinosaurus faded into obscurity while other Spinosaurids, the family that contains dinosaurs which look like the Spinosaurus with long snouts with sharp conical teeth, heavily clawed arms designed to catch fish. I believe they named the family Spinosauridae as sign of respect of the Spinosaurus fossil that was lost to war but also, modern paleontologists saw, from the photos an sketches that the lower jaw of Spinosaurus was similar to that of Baryonyx and Suchomimus, the other Spinosaurids.
But then, a certain film franchise were looking for a dinosaur that would spice up the dinosaur roster and challenge the already famous, Tyrannosaurus rex. They knew audiences would be bored by seeing Tyrannosaurus rexes all the time and they clearly wanted something vastly different but not too similar that would get the audiences confused. Remind you, public audiences were not that much aware about dinosaurs unlike now, thanks to the Internet. They were looking to audition Baryonyx and Suchomimus but they did not reach the size limit while the Giganotosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus & Acrocanthosaurus looked pretty similar to Tyrannosaurus.
And then, the paleontology supervisor of the film, John R. Horner, suggested to use Spinosaurus. Steven Spielberg, producer, & Joe Johnston, director were impressed with the genus and John probably explained it well that Spinosaurus would look like an oversized Suchomimus. And so, we come to Jurassic Park III, the film where they featured and revamped design of Spinosaurus which sparked interest again in the paleontological community as well as being brought forth to the eyes of the public. With a very epic but controversial fight against the Tyrannosaurus, Spinosaurus cemented itself in the popular dinosaurs list of every household.
The characters in the film were also not expecting a Spinosaurus and they initially thought to be a Baryonyx and Suchomimus by name dropping them in the film. The design was updated in the film and it looked more closer to the real-life counterpart unlike 1900s design. While much of the design is speculation because remember, the original holotype was destroyed in WWII and there were no fossils either. And so, the films design became the standard for Spinosaurus design for a while until more fossils were discovered.
Now, I know how some people refuses to view their dinosaurs in modern way but you have to understand that science is always changing and not one thing will remain the same forever, especially for paleontology. We all want to see a complete dinosaur even if it’s fossil finds are fragmentary, which paleontologists are always hard at work trying to find the actual, realistic look of our dinosaurs and sure sometimes design because of new finds but we get to learn more about the dinosaur you like. And yeah, even sometimes, paleontologists make mistakes and later, they correct themselves. This is how science work and the best thing to do is to keep moving forward.
And moving forward paleontologists did because in 2014, an expedition led by the German-Moroccan paleontologist, Nizar Ibrahim, found a partial sub-adult skeleton of Spinosaurus. An absolutely amazing find!! Finding a skeleton is not only rare but finding one completes a complex puzzle so much faster. Before this, there have been smaller, fragmentary finds like the upper jaw with a crest and lower jaw finds along with some teeth but not as big as this. The paleontologist found it in the Kem Kem Beds of Morocco.
The new skeleton consisted of mainly the hind legs, some parts of the spine, some rib bones, some backbones as well as some neck bones along with fragmented upper and lower jaw. The most unusual part of this find was the incredibly short legs when compared with the size estimates. Paleontology community were puzzled with the disproportionate hind legs that they were thinking they found wrong parts but after further research, they confirmed it did belong to the Spinosaurus. This discovery gave rise to the theory of Spinosaurus walking on its hands along with the legs for balance but this theory was not accepted by the community because they did not even find the hands of Spinosaurus and the ideas of its hands were inferred from other genera in Spinosauridae. That is what educated guess means when people say that because they are taking information from similar dinosaur and applying it to complete the gaps in other similar dinosaurs.

And finally in 2020, Nizar Ibrahim’s struck again with finds of the tail of Spinosaurus and this too shocked the paleo-community along with the general audiences to create memes of how Spinosaurus design changes every year. I found it funny for a while but I do feel it is disrespectful to the paleontologists and the dinosaur itself. It is not as if paleontologists willingly changes the depiction and it is not the fault of Spinosaurus because we do not have a clear image of the Spinosaurus to begin with. Not until Elon Musk creates a time machine to travel back in time to take a photo of the Spinosaurus.
Now that we know more about the whole structure of Spinosaurus, I feel like this is very much a plausible look for Spinosaurus. The sail-like tail which looks like a crocodile’s tail may have helped in hunting fishes, provide a better mass distribution and also intimidation display towards other carnivores. The speculations are endless but to me, Spinosaurus has become more complete and the real version is super cool too. But their is also another reason why fossils are super rare in African region.
The very active, fossil black market is through out Africa. Many private collectors buy these fossils and some even have said that they have sold the Spinosaurus skull. Spinosaurus teeth are probably the most popular for all people which is why it becomes harder to find the fossils which would have been essential in studying the rare dinosaurs. But how can you outright ban this black market and it will not stop even if there is unless you take extreme measures but then who is really going to enforce it. Paleontology is already a niche subject for people to pursue and who is going to invest in research of prehistoric life. Another reason why paleontology is still not as developed as many other areas because of the lack of investments and why some museums sell their fossils to private collectors just so they can get by. A truly tragic situation which nobody really cares.
Biology:

With the whole of discovery of Spinosaurus in our heads now, we can now move on to the biology of this dinosaur. As you might have noticed, Spinosaurus is not any ordinary theropod. I will try go over it’s characteristics one by one and explain it to the best of my abilities.
Let’s start off with when and where Spinosaurus lived. Spinosaurus lived around 100 to 94 million years ago of the Late Cretaceous Period. Spinosaurus lived in what is now Africa where there was huge bodies of water in Morocco and Egypt. Plus at that time, South America was quite close to Africa and it has been suggested that some other Spinosaurids may have moved to South America as well which is why there are Spinosaurids genera from there. While North America was that not close to either of the 2 continents making sense why Spinosaurids did not spread to North America.
Spinosaurus also lived 28 million years earlier than the Tyrannosaurus and the continents would have drifted further apart already and so there was no chance of either of these apex predators to meet and have a fight of the millennia unlike the film. Instead Spinosaurus probably encountered Carcharodontosaurus, another apex predator of the same ecosystem. It is quite rare to see multiple top level predators in one ecosystem but Spinosaurus was a true generalist, meaning it could eat any living animal it wanted for dinner or breakfast or lunch!
Africa, during the time of Late Cretaceous, was lush with greenery, forests, rivers, swamps, wetlands and rivers. A true tropical paradise for dinosaurs and it would have been quite warm as well, probably a bit more which could be a reason why Spinosaurus evolved that spined-sail, I will say a lot more later. The ecosystem was filled to the brim with sauropods like Paralititan and Aegyptosaurus, a variety of aquatic life and namely, a saw fish called Onchopristis because one the tooth was found stuck in-between Spinosaurus jaws, quite interesting. And not to mention, other theropods like the Deltadromeus, Bahariasaurus, & Carcharodontosaurus. So yeah, it was quite lively time back then.
Now let’s start off with its’ physical feature with the head. The head is slender and long with a little notch in the front. The nostrils are also set up a lot higher and closer to the eyes with a small crest in between. The teeth are straight, conical and very sharp. The teeth are in such a way that once it bites you, it will hold onto you. It does not rip or tear off the flesh and that is the specialty. It is to make sure once it catches the slippery fish, the fish does not slip away.
The front of the snout also had pressure receptors. With the pressure receptors, Spinosaurus would dip the front of the snout in the water and sense the surrounding pressure. If there are any fishes nearby the snout, the pressure receptors would signal it to Spinosaurus and it would catch it. The bite force of Spinosaurus was very weak but had a super fast snap. That snap would instantly kill any unfortunate animal which is why Spinosaurus became highly adapted to hunt fish but that does not mean it just ate fish.
Earlier I said Spinosaurus was a generalist and considering the huge size, it does make sense because you cannot grow that big by only hunting fish. While Spinosaurus finds have been very fragmentary and paleontologists were not able to find any fossils with stomach contents but other Spinosaurids does the job for Spinosaurus. There have been evidences where some ate Iguanodontidae or even Pterosaurs other than just fish. Makes sense that the diet primarily may have been fish but from time to time, Spinosaurus hunted down other animals like small mammals, pterosaurs, other dinosaurs or even scavenged huge sauropod carcasses. You cannot be a picky eater if you wanna be huge, you gotta eat all that you have!
Moving down, we don’t have much of the neck bones or any hand bones either but these parts are inferred from other genera of Spinosaurids and many paleontologists also acknowledge this as well. Spinosaurus probably had a muscular, long neck, long for a theropod at least, with large hands sporting some heavy claws to grab fish or slash other dinosaurs. The claws would be super useful in grabbing and slicing into larger fishes like Mawsonia as well as other dinosaurs. Most large theropods hand decreased in size as the times moved on except for Spinosaurids and Megaraptorans but the latter is for another day.
You already know how small the hands are for Carnotaurus and Tyrannosaurus, so is the case for Carcharodontosaurus which roamed alongside Spinosaurus. I am pretty sure Carcharodontosaurus did not come too close to Spinosaurus because of the large size and large claws. It would be a terrible wound if those claws slashed onto somewhere vital like the eyes.
Moving away from the hands, we get into the main torso. A pretty long torso with a huge sail on the back. Now, we get into the main feature of the Spinosaurus, the sailed-spine. Why did Spinosaurus have this and not any other dinosaur? What was the function of this sail? Many paleontologists asked the same questions and it is hard to answer because we do not have any modern day animal equal or at least has a sail back like the Spinosaurus. We only have educated reasons for the sailed-spine’s function.
The sail of Spinosaurus was definitely a sail-like structure meaning the long spines were covered with a layer of skin to protect the spines. The spines were definitely not flexible or bendy as it was their backbone. Usually backbones have a little bit extended part, which many animals have but in case of Spinosaurus, it went beyond the normal height limits. Many other theropods showed moderately tall spines for their own family but nothing like Spinosaurus. The spines were also quite different than Dimetrodon, whose was like thin rods, as well as Ouranosaurus, who had a similar tall spines but was thicker and stronger. Spinosaurus were more flat and wide which means it was in between fragile and strong.
There have been many theories on how the back may have looked like for Spinosaurus and paleontologists Ernst Stromer and Jack Bowman Bailey thought Spinosaurus had a fatty hump-like structure like that of Bison and Camel. Bailey argued that dinosaurs like Spinosaurus and Ouranosaurus had a hump instead of a sail but Ibrahim refuted this theory and instead, he had his own theory stating that Spinosaurus had tightly covered skin around the spines making it more like a sail like a Crested Chameleon because of the compactness of the spines as well as the sharp edges and poor blood flow to the area.
So, what does the sail of the Spinosaurus actually do then? I have some theories of my own as well. There have been situations where fishes gather around shaded areas of rivers and lakes for protection or even to rest. Now the sail of the Spinosaurus is big enough to cast a huge shadow around the river shores and dip its’ snout in the water. After probably gathering a substantial amount of fishes, it would strike to eat the fishes and with the help of paddle-like tail that, I think, probably cornered the fishes in an area making the escape for the fishes harder but it allows more time for the Spinosaurus to strike.
Then we have our usual theories of the sail being an attraction feature and males would compete with other males to show who is the most attractive to the potential females. Then we have the temperature regulation where it could control its own temperature by either releasing heat or absorbing heat depending on the situation. Let’s say if the Spinosaurus was swimming, then it would definitely want heat and so the spines would absorb the heat from the sun whereas if it were resting on a sunlit shore, it would want to cool down its’ body heat.
It could have also been a balancing feature when swimming. Spinosaurus probably did not dive and swam on the water level and the sail could have helped in stabilizing against river currents. Also the paddle-like tail did not have enough muscle for moving forward but it could have also been for balancing as well as helping in changing direction. Our boats usually have a small paddle at the back of the boat that changes direction. Then we have the intimidation display. The Spinosaurus could have had beautiful yet deadly patterns on the sail confusing or scaring away other large theropods or other Spinosaurus.
There are countless theories but until we have a time machine to travel back in time, we will never truly know 100% of Spinosaurus even if we find a whole complete skeleton, especially for behavior and lifestyle wise. Now, that we finished torso, let’s move onto the questionably short legs. While the reason for short legs is currently unknown, but I do have a theory of my own.
It could have probably due to the dinosaur being so large with a sailed spine and a long torso that shorter legs could have provided less stress on the legs due to its’ own weight. This is just me trying to make a reasoning because Baryonyx has normal proportioned legs unlike Spinosaurus. Another cool thing about is its’ feet as it was super wide with 4 toes touching the ground which is unlike other dinosaurs and also the claws were shallow and flat, making it easier for Spinosaurus to walk on muddy shores like a shorebird. The feet could have been webbed and I believe it to be webbed so that it could use its’ feet to swim in the water.
And finally, the latest discovery of Spinosaurus, the new paddle-shaped tail. Before the discovery, paleontologists thought it might have a basic theropod tail but this is also why finding a full skeleton is so important because this is how you discover new things and how different the life on Earth was. The paleontologists went back and back forth on what the use of a paddle-shaped tail could have been. Some said it was semi-aquatic, some said it was not and then back to semi-aquatic, you get the point.
The main problem is that the tail did not seem to have much muscle attachment on it for swimming forward like a crocodile and paleontologists were debating why Spinosaurus would evolve such a feature. I believe Spinosaurus was the first to evolve for propulsion through water but as it was the first in such a mutation that it could not have evolved a strong tail at first but a couple of millions of years later, the tail could have become more stronger for swimming in water.
But before such an evolution could happen, the Africa they lived in started become dry and the sea levels were going down and slowly the Spinosaurus’ ecosystem vanished and so did Spinosaurus along with it before evolving more. That is how nature works and how animals evolve and then die out but another life rises from in its place. That is all for now for Spinosaurus biology until something new is discovered and then I will have to edit this.
Media:
For Media-wise, you probably already know in what media Spinosaurus appeared in like Jurassic Park III and all the games after Jurassic Park III for the Jurassic Park/World franchise. For the sake of easing myself and everyone, I am going to list down every Spinosaurus appearance in media to the best of my abilities. If I am missing something from the list, do let me know in the comments below and I will gladly edit it. Now, let’s not waste any time and get on it!!
- Documentaries:
- Amazing Dinoworld
- Bigger Than T. rex
- Bizarre Dinosaur
- Deadly Dinosaurs
- Dinomorphosis
- Mesozoic Life (Cancelled due to low budget)
- Monsters Resurrected
- Planet Dinosaur
- Top 10 Biggest Beasts Ever from Nat. Geo. Wild / World’s Biggest Beasts from The Smithsonian Channel
- Games:
- ARK: Survival Evolved
- Carnivores 2
- Dinosaur King (Trading Card Game & Nintendo DS Game)
- Fossil Fighters Games
- Jurassic: The Hunted
- Parkasaurus
- Path of Titans
- Prehistoric Kingdom
- Primal Carnage
- ROBLOX: Dinosaur Simulator
- ROBLOX: Era of Terror: Remastered
- The Isle
- Zoo Tycoon
- Films:
- Age of Dinosaurs
- Transformers: Age of Extinction
- Series:
- Dino Dan: Trek’s Adventure
- Dino Dana
- Dino Squad
- Dinosaur Train
- Dora The Explorer
- Gigantosaurus
- Power Rangers
- Primeval
- The Land Before Time Series
- Books & Comics:
- Age of Reptiles: Ancient Egyptians
- Anime & Manga:
- Dinosaur King (Anime)
- Dinosaur Sanctuary (Manga)
- Doraemon: Nobita’s Dinosaur 2006 (Anime film)
- Jurassic Park/World Franchise:
- Jurassic Park III
- Jurassic Park III Junior Novelization
- Jurassic Park Adventures: Prey
- Jurassic Park Adventures: Flyers
- Jurassic Park III: The DNA Factor
- Jurassic Park III: Park Builder
- Jurassic Park III: Island Attack
- Jurassic Park III: Dino Defender
- Jurassic Park III: Danger Zone!
- Jurassic Park: Survival (Cancelled 2001 Game)
- Warpath: Jurassic Park
- Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis
- Jurassic Park: Explorer
- Jurassic Park: Builder
- Jurassic World: The Game
- Jurassic World (Only the Skeleton)
- Jurassic Park: 2015 Arcade Game
- LEGO Jurassic World
- Jurassic World: Alive
- Jurassic World: Evolution
- Jurassic World: Aftermath
- Jurassic World: Evolution 2
- Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous
- Jurassic World: Primal Ops (Cancelled)
- Jurassic World: Rebirth
That is mainly it for all the appearances of Spinosaurus in entertainment media. Do let me know if missed any and I will gladly update it and also do let me know of your favorite appearance of Spinosaurus as well!! Mine is Jurassic Park III but I also love the version of Dinosaur Sanctuary and Prehistoric Kingdom! A new update and the Jurassic World: Rebirth Spinosaurus has been shown and I must say that I do love the design. It has aspects of science accuracy along with a fresh coat of Jurassic-ness in the design. Looking a little like Komodo Dragon and Komodo Dragons do swim like the Spinosaurus shown in the trailer. It is awesome to see a design for Spinosaurus and I will admit that I was getting a little bored with the same Jurassic Park III design no matter how cool it looked. It will be really cool if they show a baby Spinosaurus, it would look so cute.
Q&A:
Is A Spinosaurus stronger than a T Rex?
Unfortunately, no. As much as I love the Spinosaurus, it was not stronger than a T. Rex even though Spinosaurus is a little longer and bigger than a T. Rex, T. Rex had a huge jaw that was built for crushing bones. One bite of T. Rex on a Spinosaurus would be a death sentence. The bite force of T. Rex was much more than that of Spinosaurus along with the mass, T. Rex was certainly a lot heavier than Spinosaurus and a head with strong bones and keratinous crests made it suitable for head butting too. Spinosaurus may have a chance if it was underwater scenario but then again that would be very unlikely. Plus a fight between T. Rex and Spinosaurus would have never happened because they are separated by huge amount of time as Spinosaurus went extinct 27 million years before the Tyrannosaurus appeared and let’s not forget the distance too. Tyrannosaurus lived in North America while Spinosaurus lived in Africa, there is no way anyone would swim such a huge distance, which is impossible, for a fight is even more unrealistic.
What is so special about Spinosaurus?
Spinosaurus is special because it is not a lot of times you see a carnivorous dinosaur with a huge spined sail back, a very crocodilian-style jaws, and a huge paddle-shaped tail which could have helped it to swim making it the first ever semi-aquatic dinosaur. Tell me another dinosaur with the same description except a Spinosaurus. Spinosaurus was the first dinosaur showing such adaptations to a body shape that had very minimal changes to all kinds of theropods. Even for Spinosaurids other than Spinosaurus, it is like they put a Spinosaurus head on a Megalosaurus body and add huge claws on its hands, I am making an oversimplification because every dinosaur is special on it’s own right but Spinosaurus is just built different which you will not find anywhere else. It just goes how weird and wacky nature is willing to go for the reason of evolution. It is also because of Spinosaurus specialty that it could not adapt to a changing ecosystem and went extinct. The peak form of Spinosauridae was the Spinosaurus.
Did the Spinosaurus eat meat?
Yes, the Spinosaurus did meat and I do not see the reason why it would not eat meat. In a sense, the fish is a kind of meat, literally eating animal is meat. Fish is just one form of life that has continued existing and fish is no more unrelated as a cow. Spinosaurus could have also hunted down other smaller herbivorous dinosaurs and maybe other reptiles like crocodiles. As long as a Spinosaurus was a carnivorous theropod, it could have eaten literally any living thing just no veggies!
Is Spinosaurus a weak dinosaur?
No, Spinosaurus was not a weak dinosaur, well at least not to us. I mean, it would just need to bite us or slap us with it’s strong arms to knock us dead. Considering the size and the density of bones, it would have to be pretty muscular to keep it active and moving and also think about how slippery a fish is and it would need to grab the fish while it is swimming in a flowing river. The neck and the teeth would have to be super strong for Spinosaurus to eat it. Also, the size would have intimidated some other theropods too and also remember that carnivores are living animals too and they would do their best to avoid danger in place of running in to it like a dumb idiot like us humans. We run into danger when we know might die but a dinosaur is smart enough not to do that. So yeah, Spinosaurus is a strong dinosaur in the end.
Why is Spinosaurus so rare?
That is a very good question and that is mainly because of fossil black market and the location where it is found. Think about it USA and China have so many dinosaur fossils that are being discovered every year but the African continent hardly gets new discoveries or good fossil remains either. Leading an expedition that is not close too home is expensive and grueling work and most fossils, who are smart enough to understand what it is, are already being sold off in the fossil black market where the paleontologists cannot monitor all the time. In an ideal world, black markets should not exist and every fossil would be given to the museums for study but that is not the case. Human conflict is the reason why Spinosaurus fossils are so rare to find.
These are some of the many questions I found on the Internet but if you have any questions that you would like answers for, don’t hesitate to write in the comment section below.
Merchandise:
Well, I would like to thank you for reading through my whole post about Spinosaurus. Spinosaurus always has been my favorite dinosaur of all time. I always get excited knowing Spinosaurus will be in something or somewhere. When I was young, I always wanted a Spinosaurus figure or related merchandise but it was not like that. But nowadays, everyone is accessible to so many things easily and for that reason, I am going to share some Spinosaurus merch that I recommend for you to have.

















And also, if you want to help out in my endeavors, then I would love to do a dinosaur illustration commission. This is one of the many things I offer and follow the link below to see what I can illustrate for you. I hope you like it and I hope to see you again soon in another of my posts and if you have any recommendations, do let me know in the comments!!

