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**

Tyrant king

You know what I mean carnosaur:) rex is the only theropod with a bite study done on it. And people say rex's bite can not be topped. but many other theropods had strong bites.

Tyrant king

@ mr.hsppy why don't you think a other theropod can not defeat the tyrant lizard king？

Lord Vader

I'm not saying Rex can't be beat. I'm saying it would win more often than not. That can mean 10/10, that can mean 9/10, but tha can also mean 6/10. I'm not saying Rex was unstoppable, I'm not saying it was invincible. I'm simply saying it would win a one on one predator battle more often than it would lose a one on one predator battle. 

If it wasn't clear in my previous post, this is against similar sized predators. 

Carnosaur

I've found the paper onit, i'd advise all y'all go check it out

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2014/09/10/science.1258750.DC1/Ibrahim.SM.pdf

Tyrant king

Nice find.

Carnosaur

should have clarified that a while ago,happy.

Any ways, it's almost a certaintythis thing was neither fully aquatic or Quadrupedal, it just shows adaptations towards a semiaquatic lifestyle. Crocodilians any one?

don't mentioncrocodilians are quadrupedal, that's irrelevant and basic knowledge...

That paper states that while most of the weight is in front of the hips, it's quite probably a partly bipedal creature.

Lord Vader

I kinda figured people would assume I meant similar sized. Ah well, that's one thing about me is I tend to assume people know things when they don't. Sorry guys, next time I'll clarify if I remember. 

Carnosaur

it's fine.

Going back to the first page comments that were made, yes Spinosaurus isn't the twenty ton bipedal slaughterhouse it was made out to be in the early 2000's, and man do i know some Spino fanatics that really take it to a new level, but we don't have that here. Idealogy on Spinosaurus' size was based on the assumption it was closely related to Suchomimus/ Baryonyx. Now...i don't know what this thing is "closely" related to, because its physiology appears completely different from what we were inferring.

That's the thing about this field...you never know what you're going to find..

3-5 tons is too light, as i see you put it at. 3 tons is Suchomimus sized! spino was a good 10-15 feet longer than it, it's quite obvious it would have a decent size advantage over it

Tyrant king

I say about 8 tons.

Sci-Fi King25

First of all, nice find!

Also, I'm with TK and Carnosaur. I don't buy the bipedal theory. Also, it could have a bit of weight in its tail to allow at least a bit of bipedal movement. This would allow it to walk bipedally or quadrupedally as it pleased. Also, I don't really think its scyth-like claws would allow too much quadrupedal movement, as this would wear and tear its claws. It would probably move bipedally on land, and quadrupedally on the shore or in water. 

Tyrant king

Ya those huge claws on its forearms would be bad to walk on .

Silver_Falcon

No, I don't think it would wear out spino's claws, as it would likely walk similarily to a gorilla, as seen in this picture:

Tyrant king

ontersesting.

Carnosaur

I don't like that reconstruction..seems to mammalian/theraspid in nature to me..

Gorillas have a gait Characterized as "knuckle walking", but they are capable of a bipedal gait as well. I don't think i need to show examples, mainly because we've all seem it at some point. Also, Gorillas don't have claws, they have short nails that aid in making the "knuckle walk" possible, as they aren't long enough to dig into the Gorilla's forearm.

Spinosaur arms seem a little thin for a quadrupedal gait, and the 6-9 inch claws it sported woulld have sank into the substrate of its time, not really idea for quadrupedal locomotion-  foot claws are oriented differently then those of the forearms, so that's why this wouldn't occur in the legs.

Silver_Falcon

Ok. didn't know that. Thanks for the info.

(Just want to clarify that I too dislike that portrayal, as it seems disproportional to me.)

Tyrant king

I think it was mostly bipedal and probably just occasionally went on all fours.

Carnosaur

any time, i gues...

Not saying it isn't possible, but with the physiology of theropods not being analagous to mammals i just don't see it as plausible..

Didn't really see this find shining the light it did on spinosaurus either, but eh i'm open to new things.

Tyrant king

I'm sorry for the short post guys. I am on my phone and it loggs me put constantly and I am eating and doing other things right now.

Raptor-401

Also, forgot to state this earlier, but I agree with S-Rex and all, but especially on this depiction, as in the drawing- it's God-awful! Seriosuly, it honestly does make me want to throw up for some reason,s ounds crazy, but just... no...

...

...

No.

Tyrant king

I honestly just find if appalling.

Durp004

Looks pretty cool, like a crocodile with a sail. If this turns out to be true I'd still prefer the spino to the rex.

Carnosaur

I don't think it's going to change Spino being the favorite dino of people, just a size deduction and quite a bit of rethining about the Spinosaur family tree

Tyrant king

It would confuse the heck out of the public.

Silver_Falcon

You mean us?

Tyrant king

The general puic.

dinoboy22

agreed it would confuse the hell out of everyone. people dont exactly like change or in the case of dinosaurs pay attention to it. people still think brontosaurus still exists

Tyrant king

Agreed.

indiana jones

is it just me or does that make enyone else feel just...uncomfurtable

DinoSteve93

Based an all the articles and pages this news has, I have to say again that the construction looks pretty likely.

I didn't ever say it would be limited to quadrupedal posture, on the contrary, as seen in the video in the page, it would also use a bipedal walking sometimes.

This reconstruction also doesn't deny Spino was a predator. In fact, it was, hunting fish is still considered predator. And as every predator is opportunistic, it wouldn't let pass a carcass, pterosaur, or even a slow or wounded dinosaur.

The sail also brings more sense to it: in this new reconstruction, Spinosaurus is depicted as a possibly 4-5 tons heavy animal, pretty long and low to the ground, strong, but still fragile for theropod standards. In this case, the sail would help a lot by making it seem bigger than it really is, scaring away possible threat.

The only problem I see in this reconstruction, that is based on fossil data, is why other spinosaurs seem to be so different and much more bipedal.

Sniper

Why people bring other theropods in this discussion?This isn't a "t.rex beat every other theropod" thread.We have no idea how these creatures behaved,but most people say that t.rex beat all of them,and this is annoying.STOP THIS!

Back on topic,i found this updated reconstruction,i think it looking better now.