Dinosaur Bone Fossils Spinosaurus Vertebrae Kem Kem Formation & Display Card
Item History & Price
Reference Number: Avaluer:4356098 |
Spinosaurus (meaning "spine lizard") is a genus oftheropod dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa, during the upperAlbian to upper Turonian stages of the Cretaceous period. This genus was knownfirst from Egyptian remains discovered in 1912 and described by Germanpaleontologist Ernst Stromer in 1915. The original remains were destroyed inWorld War II, but additional material has come to ligh...t in the early 21stcentury. It is unclear whether one or two species are represented in thefossils reported in the scientific literature. The best known species is S.aegyptiacus from Egypt, although a potential second species, S. maroccanus, hasbeen recovered from Morocco.Spinosaurus was among the largest of all known carnivorousdinosaurs, nearly as large as or even larger than Tyrannosaurus, Giganotosaurusand Carcharodontosaurus. Estimates published in 2005, 2007, and 2008 suggestedthat it was between 12.6–18 metres (41–59 ft) in length and 7 to 20.9 tonnes(7.7 to 23.0 short tons) in weight.[2][3][4] New estimates published in 2014and 2018 based on a more complete specimen, supported the earlier research, finding that Spinosaurus could reach lengths of 15–15.6 m (49–51 ft).[5][6] Thelatest estimates suggest a weight of 6.4–7.2 tonnes (7.1–7.9 short tons).[6]The skull of Spinosaurus was long and narrow, similar to that of a moderncrocodilian. Spinosaurus is known to have eaten fish, and most scientistsbelieve that it hunted both terrestrial and aquatic prey; evidence suggeststhat it lived both on land and in water as a modern crocodilian does. Thedistinctive spines of Spinosaurus, which were long extensions of the vertebrae, grew to at least 1.65 meters (5.4 ft) long and were likely to have had skinconnecting them, forming a sail-like structure, although some authors havesuggested that the spines were covered in fat and formed a hump. Multiplefunctions have been put forward for this structure, including thermoregulationand display.