The Spinosaurus

Spinosaurus Rex

Oh, what a great dinosaur to talk about! And also a great conversation topic! Well, im going to let you guys know where i stand in size and what not, so be prepared!

Spinosaurus, hence the dinosaur i got my name from. Lets me get started on size, shall we? The places where i get my estimations are purely through what ive saw on most sites that have its size stated and also through observations of animals it has similarities with. All in all, i believe its size is up to 60 ft in length and 14 or 15 tons at most. My reason being is there is no reason for a carnivore to be long and not have weight and height, as well as a bunch of muscle to go along with that length. Length and predation do not mix well, at all, end of story. Which brings me to my second point, which i have stated many times in the past, a land predator that large simply does not rely on the smallest prey in an ecosystem, and also, somthing that large needs to feed almost constantly to keep the energy it needs to kill more/defend itself from intruders. 

Fish and small dinosaurs would not be enough to satisfy this enormous carnivore's hunger, so it would most likely resort to eating the much larger individuals of the dinosaurs in the area. Yes, it's skull shape insists it was adapted to capturing fish, but i look at it as more of an accesory to further satisfy its large appetite. 

This information i dont look at as merely just OPINIONS, i look at them more as highly educated guesses as to what this dinosaurs was and how it lived, and to add another thing, this is obviously nothing that is meant for starting and arguement, so please, people with strong opinions against this, tread very lightly with what you say, or i will notify you about it and depending on how aggressive you are towrds it, i will not hesitate to give you that same back, but through PM's.

Hiphopananomus

Theres not much to elaborat. On S-rex...

it simply means Spinosaurus didn't have a large amount of muscle compared to other theropods. in fact ALL spinosaurids appear to be loghtly bulit.

JRR

TY Nature has repeted designs that are succesfoul, like say rhinos to trikes, Wolves hunting in packs strategy to raptors, spinos long mouth to gharials, so maybe spinos design whas succesfoul by having lees competition for food

Tyrant king

I agree with carno and was actually about to say that sorta.

Spinosaurus Rex

But Happy, it seems that you always just take the latter side of anything towards Spino, so i dont think you should just do that strictly because its partial remains are in poor condition.

Carnosaur

@ Tyrant King, well...yes we can. Morphilogically speaking ( i just butchered the hell out of the spelling on that..) Spinosaurus' skull is very crocodilian like. The conical teeth are also a shared trait, and that was one of our first hints to what this thing possibly ate. Conical teeth are good for gripping slippery prey, but they are also good at making sure prey doesn't escape the jaws also. Therefore, the diet of Spinosaurus can be established as not strictly Piscavorious, but also being able to take small - sized prey. Honestly, Spinosaurs weren't built to kill adults sauropods, so it wouldn't prey on them. Babies? Subadults? absolutely.

Tyrant king

Spino rex, what do you think the bite force of spinosaurs is?

Lord Vader

It's all just my opinion on the matter, and Spinosaurs were rather lightweight as stated by HHA. 

Raptor-401

Well, the bite force is usally estimated at around 4-7 tons??

Lord Vader

Closer to 2-3 tons 401. You're thinking Rex's bite there. 

Hiphopananomus

I put it at 2-2.5 tons.

Carnosaur

Baryonyx Walkeri, scaled up to 55 feet in length, would have a bite force of ~2.5 tons. A Fully grown spinosaurus therefore would have a bite force of 3-3.5 tons

Tyrant king

@ carnosaur are crocodiles bibedal? No. So we can't compare them. They had a niche similar to that of other spinosaur. 

Everything else you said I agree.

Spinosaurus Rex

Yes, Cat, but another thing is that its hard enough to catch a fish with a fishing pole, so biting at fish that arent always to be claimed as his, it would lose patience and go for a more sizable and easier meal.

Tyrant king

I put it at 3 to 5 tons.

Raptor-401

T-K, Spinosaurs were very closely related to Crocodiles. That's like saying Raptors weren't birds because they couldn't fly.

JRR

PX see they are very simmillar

Raptor-401

Good point Cat!

Lord Vader

If I'm not mistaken, Spino had sensors on the end of its snout, similar to what Vipers have. That would help it in catching fish and such, and keep in mind, fish weren't small back then. 

Carnosaur

It doesn't matter if crocodilians are bipedal or not, because we're talking about the skull. Mainly the dentition, which is similar to that of the Spinosaur family. That's a pretty good reference point, considering these guys have been dead for Millenia..

We can infer about its lifestyle by the skull, as that's pretty much basically all we've found of it with the exceptions of scant remains found here and there - though the Sereno find might prove me wrong.

Spinosaurus Rex

3 to 4 tons is where i put its bite, more than enough to suffocate a large dinosaur.

Tyrant king

They don't have the exact same lifestyles. Would droneosUrs leap from trees down to there prey like modern birds of prey?

Raptor-401

And I do belive the arms would be an advantage. A couple of slaps could kill a well-sized herbivore.

Hiphopananomus

S-rex, lets not forget these aren't people. Animals when looking for food, don't run out of patience.

JRR

Spino'slong jaws and claws made catching fish easier than tring to claw swipe a biig prey, the reason he could be so big is little competition and the saill intimidates other predators, he won the figth wihout a battle

Tyrant king

I agree with spino rex.

Raptor-401

Animals do run out of patience. Evidence? My dog. Other animals.

I estimate Spino's bite force as 3-5 tons, as well.

Tyrant king

Spinos huge arms cause serious wounds to prey.

and if you really think tere like crocs then I say spinosaurs could hunt anything it wanted by ambush.

Spinosaurus Rex

Hiphop, they most certainly do run out of patience. In predation in almost all cases, the predator goes for the easier-to-get prey, hence my reasoning.

Carnosaur

@Tyrant king, actually, A study conducted in i believe 2009 shows that Dromaeosaurs actually very likely could have climbed trees; an excerpt:

The Manning team also compared the curvature of the dromaeosaurid "sickle claw" on the foot with curvature in modern birds and mammals. Previous studies had shown that the amount of curvature in a claw corresponded to what lifestyle the animal has: animals with strongly curved claws of a certain shape tend to be climbers, while straighter claws indicate ground-dwelling lifestyles. The sickle-claws of the dromaeosaurid Deinonychus have a curvature of 160 degrees, well within the range of climbing animals. The forelimb claws they studied also fell within the climbing range of curvature.

JRR

Baby sauropods require more energy to hunt, plus spinos thin jaw means it can't have a very big bite force, even tough it migth scavee, by intimidating other predators