New and interesting article on the spinosaurus.

dinoboy22

¨The biggest and the baddest among meat-eating dinosaurs, Spinosaurus may have also been the first dinosaur to take to the water, swimming in North Africa's rivers some 97 million years ago, researchers reported on Thursday.¨

PHOTOGRAPH BY MIKE HETTWER, ASSISTED BY MARK THIESSEN, NGM STAFF

Check it out its a pretty cool article

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/09/140911-spinosaurus-fossil-discovery-dinosaur-science/ 

*Edited by **AL**

Spinosaurus Rex

Mr Happy, almost all of the comments you and others have said on this topic is "Oh i just feel so sorry for the spino fans finding out their favorite dino isnt what it seems" or " geez, the spino fans' dreams must be crushed"

Spinosaurus Rex

So you should have said the "everybody has their own opinion" thing before everybody started spewing that crap.

Allotitan

Interesting article.

i prefer Spino as a water based, but upright predator. If it is a more crocodile-based in lifestyle, then I guess there are such thing as water dinosaurs

Silver_Falcon

Personally, I think a blend of the two might be more likely. I find sereno's version's legs to be too small and thin. On the other side, I do not think spino was an unstoppable super-predator, and think it was more adapted to a lazy life by (and in) the swamps. I think it was a loner, that took perfect advantage of an open and easily exploited niche.

TL:DR: OPINIONS BLARGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lord Vader

Actually S-Rex, I haven't said Jack about that. It's all regarding this new look, and none of it is me seeing it as 100% fact. I doubt this is the real thing, but it's possible. Anything is possible. 

Now then, you can say what you want about me, wether it's calling me a "Rex Fan Extremist," saying I get away with my claims because I'm a mod (not true may I add), and various other things. I really don't care what you say about me, but please, unless otherwise stated, view what I say regarding Spino as an opinion, and something as radical as this, view as jokes. 

Also, regarding the whole "It's all opinions" deal. I know I could state that EVERY time I post, but god does that ever get mind dullingly annoying and boring, especially considering that pretty much every discussion we ever have (not counting Carno's Cretaceous Carnage series) is nothing but our opinions. I'd expect someone who's been around as long as you have to know we all mean our opinions. 

Gavin

I suppose in this ongoing war I would be called a Spino Fan, And as such such heres my two cents...

1. I chose the Spino over the T.Rex simply because the Rex is the predictable choice - I have seen so many images and TV shows and movies about the T.Rex that too be quite frankly honest with you the creature bores me. Granted rex was big, muscular, powerful with one hell of a bite. Was it the toughest Dino, probably not. Is it the most popular, yes. But in terms of appearance, the creature isnt really all that inspiring, for me.

2. Regards this opinion, this educated guess linked to in the OP - IMO the Spinosaurus was most likely a hunter of both land and water based prey, and as such I susect that it was neither bipedal or a quadraped, but both, much like the Iguanadon.

In a one on one fight the Rex would most likely win against the Spino, but Im sure theres a dozen other breed of Dinos capable of whupping Rexs arse. Maybe we should add them as teams to this site...

Silver_Falcon

Team Carcharodontosaur anyone?

Lord Vader

Gavin, of course the were dinosaurs that could kick Rex's ass. Any herbivore that outweighed Rex by about 4 tons for example. It's not Rex vs any herbivore people really care about though. It's predator vs predator where people get nasty. In a one on one predator vs predator, I'm of the opinion that Rex would win more often then not, but that's because there were no predators that outweighed Rex by a significant margin. 

Gavin

looks like you found a constructive new topic there Happy, which Dinosaur Predator would own T-Rex, one on one...

Spinosaurus Rex

Mr Happy, it would probably be a good idea to address each other through PM's, because i know a LOT of things that prove you arent the picture you paint of yourself.

Lord Vader

Haha, sorry to say, but one on one, no predator would "own" Rex. As stated earlier, it was muscled and had a hell of a bite. On top of that, it had true binocular vision, which would likely help. 

Really though, statistics on the predators themselves aside, the battle would probably come down to something out of their control. 

Lone Rex vs Giga/Spino/Carchar in normal situation, Rex.

Lone Rex vs G/S/C with chick, G/S/C.

Rex with chick vs G/S/C, Rex.

And so on. The possibilities are endless. 

Gavin

Im sure theres one dino that coud layeth the smackdown on the Rex, just a case of looking and/or discovering - maybe something with longer arms... LOL

Lord Vader

It's possible there's a theropod that could kick the crap out of Rex. Anything's possible with the fossil record. I was more so referring to what we have, not what we may discover. 

JRR

Yhea The Drex could own rwex.............

dinoboy22

we dont really know what d-rex can do yet catzilla :P

Tyrant king

@ Mr.happy Why do you favor rex over giga,charcardontosaurs,and spino causi I say it is 50/50.

UCMP 118742

An interesting read. As stated before, possible, but I find it quite unlikely. Spinosaurus certainly had massive arms, but strong enough to be a quadruped? No way in hell! I see it as a 95% bipedal creature, which would switch to a quadrupedal stance to get through a thick swamp, a stronger than usual river etc. Besides, if Spinosaurus would've actually lived so low to the ground, then it would be literally impossible for it to catch anything other than a crab or a very old, small and slow fish, assuming that it didn't drown before it caught something.

Lord Vader

Camouflage itself, similar attributes to Rex, similar attributes to JP Velociraptors. I still say Rex because I think D-Rex will be smaller than Rex (Velociraptor and cuttlefish would likely reduce it's size). 

dinoboy22

poison could also be a factor for the d-rex but yeah

Raptor-401

My God, why the hell did people bring Rex into this topic? So freaking annoying, this discussion was made to discuss about Spino, not Rex vs. Spino. And seriosuly Mr. happy, you need to stop criticizing and saying biased comments about Spinosaurus fans, it honestly is rude and annyoing, to be 100% honest. Saying stuff like our dreams our crushed and stuff like that is just childish, just as childish as boys saying girls have the "cooties", if not even more.

And seriously, even if Rex had a storng bite force, who's to say it would win against all other animals? What if animals were smart enough to develop defense manuevers that wouldn't allow Rex to bite them at all?

Anyways, I think the article was kind of cool, I still think Spinosaurus was liek the one depcited in the BBC video.

Carnosaur

Holy crap...

Spino looks very....heron like here..

Like S-rex, i don't buy the quadrupedal gait..

It's not conventional, and most if not all quadrupedal predators died out at the end of the triassic.

Adressing the feathered dino debate going on here, Nothing really outside of the Coelurisauria had feathers. Quill like structures have been found on primative ceratopsians(Psitaccosaurus namely), but one thing is for sure, we have evidence of feathered theropods, as large as Yutyrannus as a matter of fact(Basal Tyrannosauroid). Yutyrannus was ~23 feet long, 1.5 tons in weight, and approx. 8 feet tall(head height.) So, it's possibe large bodied theropods had feathers, if not likely.

Happy, there's a few Large theropods that could take Tyrannosaurus one on one, saying otherwise is kind of nonsensical. Rex wasn't an unstoppable monster...It was just an animal..

A few contenders would have to be Torvosaurus(Edmarka) rex, , Mapusaurus(?) Rosaeae, Giganotosaurus Carolinii, Carcharodontosaurus Saharicus. But, that's an entirely new topic.

Aside from that, Myoverall size estimate based on this mount was what they have it at(15.2 meters)

It looks like we have to rearrange the order of the biggest theropod dinosaurs though, based on this find Spino would weigh 6-7 tons, not the meager 3-5 tons some of you are so intent on putting it at though..

Raptor-401

Thanks for stating your comment Carnosaur, really does help, because I was trying to find the correct way to state that. Seriously, why do people always want to make Spinosaurus look like some weak fish?

Carnosaur

Artistic depiction =/= factual evidence. Just because it isshown in a quadrupedal stance doesn't mean it was fully quadrupedal. I'll have to dig around for the paper on these new finds..

From that article, i'll just highlight something some of you seem to have glazed over a tad bit

"From tip to tail, he says, a digital reconstruction of those bones (done with funding provided by the National Geographic Society) tells a story of semiaquatic adaptation. The creature's skull sported small nostrils midway up the snout, perfect for breathing with the jaws submerged like a crocodile. Also similar to crocodiles, the tip of the snout possessed nerve and blood vessel channels, sensitive to sudden pressure changes in the water from fleeing prey."

It seems the idea This spinosaur was more crocodilian in nature are correct, and while the back legs are suprisingly dense for a theropod( most theropods have hollow bones) that doesn't mean it was 100% quadrupedal, saying otherwise is..again..nonsensical..c'mon guys you're better then this for pete's sake.

Experts remarked on similarities between the leg bones of Spinosaurus and Penguins, stating it helped maintain bouyancy in the water. Need iremind you penguins are still bipedal?

A Quadrupedal gait is likely, but not a 100% fixture in the life of Spinosaurus, It most certainly stood upright, if only a marginal percentage of the time.

Lord Vader

I never said it was unstoppable. I said that I'm of the opinion that it would win more often then not against other predators one on one. That's all. Where do you see "invincible" or "unstoppable" in there? 

Anywho, I agree with you Carno. 

JRR

Well penguines are bipedal but its feet are almost usles

Carnosaur

In a one on one predator vs predator, I'm of the opinion that Rex would win more often then not, but that's because there were no predators that outweighed Rex by a significant margin. 

There were predators equally as large as it;they don't have to be substantially larger to kill it.

Tyrant king

Why do you think it could win agsinst other predators da often and seriously many theropods can beat it in a fight. Do you think it will win because of its only true weapon. Why is Rex's bite so much deadlier then others? Seriously it'd not. It had no competition  when it lived so it is not a theropod killer as some say. And animals like spino, charcar, and giga lived with big, tough predators and constantly had cometition for resources. More do the rex. So don't say rex had an advantage  in that field. and Rex's binocular vision is not gonna help it place bites or anything like that and sill predators have it. Just Rex's was a bit more adapted and it is not going to give it an advantage.

Carnosaur

Cat, Penguin feet aren't useless by any definition of the term. While penguins are adapted to water bound locomotion, that doesn't mean their feet aren't useful.

In fact, some species are suprisingly fast and agile - mainly the Rockhopper species- Eudyptes spp. mainly. These species are capable of speeds up to 15 mph, fast for a bird with ' useless' feet, wouldn't ya say?

Carnosaur

Rex's bite is stronger then the other theropods, with a median bite force of ~5-6 tons. Others came close or even exceeded that, but it's something that really hasn't been studied very much at all. If we were to put say, the top ten largest theropods in a bite force study, we might have some suprissing numbers - especially since the megalosaurs had jaw mechanics on par with the Tyrannosaurs. Edmarka rex - probably synonymous with Torvosaurus, was a 11-12 meter megalosaur, something that big would give Tyrannosaurus rexa run for its money in that department.

Lord Vader

Alright, last attempt at defending my opinion. 

IMO, Rex would win more often than not against SIMILAR sized predators. Against a predator that was, say, 4 tons heavier, the odds balance out and said predator would beat Rex more often than not.