# Spinosaurus



## Rosemary (Feb 18, 2006)

*Excerpt from our local newspaper in **Western Australia*

   A giant dinosaur with crocodile-like jaws (a relation to Wally perhaps!) makes the tyrannosaurus rex look quite small, and has claimed the title of the biggest predator ever on Earth.
   Newly found remains of spinosaurus suggests that it was about 17m from nose to tail and weighed approximately eight tones, dwarfing its closest rival meat-eaters.  This vicious giant hunted among the swamps, bogs and river banks of the Sahara during the Cretaceous Period – about 100 million years ago.
   Fossil evidences suggests that its diet was unusual for a big predator, in that it consisted of fish.
   Like T.Rex and the gigantosaurus, spinosaurus was a theropod – the group of dinosaurs that gave rise to birds.  There was a series of 2m-long spines along its back that possibly supported a skin-covered ‘sail’ and relatively large arms powerful enough to be used to catch prey.’
   Skull fragments suggest that spinosaurus was considerably larger than T.Rex and the largest land-based predator ever to have lived.


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## cornelius (Feb 18, 2006)

you can see a spinosaurus in jurassic park three


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## weaveworld (Feb 18, 2006)

*Found those pics for your attention, I remember it in Jurassic Park 3 - it was scary biscuits! 


*


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## HieroGlyph (Feb 18, 2006)

Quote from another site:
"Unfortunately, nobody has yet found a complete skeleton of _Spinosaurus, _so we can only guess at how big it was. If it was built to the same proportions as _Suchomimus _it might have been 12 or even 13 meters long, longer than _Tyrannosaurus rex_. However, _Suchomimus _has a much more slender build for its body size than _T. rex. _If _Spinosaurus _had a similarly slender build it would have been less massive than _T. rex. _Keep in mind, also, that _Spinosaurus _had long, slender jaws with tapering, needle-like teeth. It would have had a much weaker bite than _Tyrannosaurus, _which had deep, powerful jaws and strong, massive teeth. I suspect that if the two ever got into a fight, _Tyrannosaurus rex _would win. However, _Tyrannosaurus rex _lived only in western North America, while _Spinosaurus _lived in North Africa, so in reality the two animals never would have run into each other."

Along with nice comparison:

http://www.caspercollege.edu/tate/FAQpics/spino_rex.jpg
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## Rosemary (Feb 18, 2006)

*Further to Newspaper report -*

Analysis of skull fragments also suggest that when spinosaurus squared up to T.Rex in the film, it's gigantic proportions were underestimated.  

Thank you for the link HG.  Can you guess what the noise would have been like if they had met and fought!!


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## weaveworld (Feb 18, 2006)

*I like to imagine Rosemary that they would make quite a sound, I always like learning about dinosaurs at school, so thanks a million for the info *


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