Can you tell us, preferably in excruciating detail, what your favorite dinosaur is, and a handful of reasons why? And maybe some fun facts about them?
And also maybe, if you’ve got time, maybe a cool tidbit specifically about any theropod of your choosing?
Please and thank you!
yes I can absolutely do this! it may get a bit lengthy however, so I very much apologize for the rambles and lack of proper punctuation (which yes, I know you have a thing for)
my all time favorite dinosaur is the spinosaurus aegyptiacus ☺️💕 spinosaurus means “spine lizard” as it has one very obvious physical feature. it is the largest spinosaurid in the spinosauridae family, which consists of several other similar theropods. this is my absolute favorite family! it includes the spinosaurus aegyptiacus, the newly discovered spinosaurus mirabilis, the suchomimus, the baryonyx, the ichthyovenator, and the irritator.
this love started as a child with jurassic park III, however the scientific research and evidence for the spinosaurus has changed so much over the years! the spinosaurus we see in jurassic park III is actually incredibly inaccurate due to several factors: missing credible scientific data and skeleton components of the spinosaurus aegyptiacus, the jurassic park book and movies being fictional of course, and the premise of all the “dinosaurs” in the jurassic park universe not being actual dinosaurs, but creations based on the dna of the creatures and modified with the dna of supplemental sources. theme park monsters and all, you know?
the spinosaurus from jurassic park III is presented more as a violent and aggressive apex predator. while yes, the spinosaurus aegyptiacus was an elite apex predator, it was actually primarily a fisher. this includes fishing along the rivers of what is now africa during a high humidity period of time with many swamps! this also included swimming out into the ocean and preying on sharks by using what are essentially motion sensors built into their longer snouts. think crocodilian. thin, long snout perfect for fishing with thousands of motion detectors to sense the slightest ripple in the water to surprise and catch their prey. chasing prey took too much energy from a large creature that needed to eat a lot of food every day! waiting for it to come to them was much more energy efficient. jurassic park III did also get another fact correct and that was that the spinosaurid family consisted of semi aquatic theropods! the spinosaurus and its smaller family members were built for both land and water.
here’s an illustration of the jurassic park III spinosaurus model in comparison to our currently updated spinosaurus aegyptiacus model based on newer scientific findings. jurassic park III had some things correct including the sail and crocodilian snout, but presented it as more of an…. evil villain? similarly comparable to how they portrayed the tyrannosaurus rex in the original movie. they needed a big bad, and they certainly made an impact with their choices. as a fun fact, my next tattoo is actually going to be a scientifically correct model of the spinosaurus aegyptiacus, but with the coloration of the spinosaurus from jurassic park III as an homage to my love for the franchise and my introduction to my favorite creature 💕 it’s also going to be surrounded by different van gogh flowers 🌸
then again the jurassic franchise reintroduced the spinosaurus in jurassic world: rebirth. this spinosaurus is more similar to our current scientific model of the spinosaurus aegyptiacus! not completely accurate, but more on par with their updated model and oceanic swimming capabilities. again, theme park monsters, suspend the disbelief. also in the premise of the rebirth movie, scientists were experimenting with creating “dinosaurs” that were more… interesting, scarier, “more teeth.” cue the creation of the mutadons and the d-rex.
below is a comparison between the original jurassic park III spinosaurus and the spinosaurus presented in jurassic world: rebirth. looking back up to the pictures I dropped above comparing the jurassic park III spinosaurus and the updated model, the rebirth spinosaurus is closer to what the spinosaurus aegyptiacus looked like! this also included the development of the paddle tail, which paleontologists were divided on over the years. some of the community saw spinosaurus as an apex predator similar to tyrannosaurus rex or the carcharodontosaurus, which rivaled the spinosaurus aegyptiacus in prehistoric what is now africa during the late cretaceous period, roughly 99-93 million years ago!
speaking of the spinosaurus aegyptiacus and the carcharodontosaurus, both of these apex predators lived at the same time during the late cretaceous period about 95ish million years ago. the carcharodontosaurus was another beautiful theropod, but was terrestrial and hunted solely on land. with the spinosaurus aegyptiacus being a semi aquatic theropod, they may have interacted in their ecosystem, but the spinosaurus would not have actively chosen to seek out fights with the carcharodontosaurus. this contradicts what jurassic park III would have you believe because they portrayed it as a bloodthirsty and vengeful predator, and yes I’m looking at you spinosaurus vs tyrannosaurus rex scene.
the spinosaurus aegyptiacus was slightly larger than the carcharodontosaurus, reaching almost 50 feet long while the carcharodontosaurus reached about 43 feet long. the spinosaurus had different teeth than the carcharodontosaurus too! remember how I mentioned their crocodilian snout? their teeth also rivaled crocodilian teeth and were more conical and pointed. these teeth are strong when it comes to gripping slippery aquatic prey. whereas the carcharodontosaurus had pretty on brand theropod teeth for this era, flat and pointed for ripping or tearing flesh, similar to the tyrannosaurus rex! teeth made for hunting and tearing, not fishing. the spinosaurus aegyptiacus also would’ve been slower on land, look at the comparison between their mass. the carcharodontosaurus was built for terrestrial hunting, whereas the spinosaurus lived a balanced life between land and water. so even though these two apex predators lived at the same time in the same location, they mostly did not interact with each other.
check out their skulls! do you see how the spinosaurus on the left has a much thinner snout? conical and sharp teeth? ambush fishers! but the carcharodontosaurus on the right? more compact, shorter snout, flatter and sharp teeth? hunters!
now to really understand the spinosaurus aegyptiacus on a more basic paleontology level and one of the reasons I love them, you have to know the history of our scientific findings on them. as I mentioned in the comparisons of the jurassic park III spinosaurus, the jurassic world: rebirth spinosaurus, and then the comparison between the true spinosaurus aegyptiacus and the carcharodontosaurus, I’ve been sprinkling in the newer scientific findings. the spinosaurus aegyptiacus we know and love today was a fisher! a beautiful semi aquatic theropod who spent much of its life ambushing prey in the rivers, swamps, and oceans in and around what is now africa during the late cretaceous period. its crest was slight, the sail long and gorgeous, and it had a wide tail perfect for swimming rather than a thin and balanced tail for terrestrial life. paleontologists theorize the sail could’ve had multiple purposes: mating displays and behaviors, a slimmer swimming profile and it aided swim speed, or help with temperature regulation in the humid swamps, rivers, and ocean surrounding prehistoric africa!
these facts weren’t always known! paleontologists have studied the spinosaurus aegyptiacus since its discovery in 1912 egypt. we were missing so much of the skeleton that paleontologists and other scientists just kind of… guessed? and not to mention, the original skeletal pieces? they were destroyed during world war II. many of the thoughts surrounding the spinosaurus aegyptiacus changed over time as we discovered new pieces of the puzzle, additional skeletal pieces! see how the original thought was that it was a large and mostly upright theropod? the smaller, more compact snout and head? it was seen as almost a physical rival to the tyrannosaurus rex, again. large, predatory, compact head, powerful on land. as we discovered new partial skeletons, our information updated! large, ambush fisher, slimmer snout, powerful swimmer. I absolutely love seeing how we can get things so wrong, but then end up so right in the end.
additionally, while the tyrannosaurus rex gets a lot of love as kind of the “mascot of the dinosaurs,” the spinosaurus aegyptiacus was actually larger than the tyrannosaurus rex! even though we only have incomplete fossils, we know it was the largest carnivorous dinosaur to exist.
now onto some more news! I just mentioned how paleontologists review new information as it’s discovered and reevaluate what we know, they had to do this again recently. please meet the spinosaurus mirabilis! “mirabilis” means “astonishing” but it has also been nicknamed the hell heron. excavated over a period of years, this spinosaurus was published to the world earlier this year. a new addition to the spinosaurid family, the spinosaurus mirabilis was discovered in niger, whereas the aegyptiacus was discovered in egypt.
in comparison to the aegyptiacus, the mirabilis was smaller in body size and had a much larger crest. it mirrored the aegyptiacus in most body composition though with smaller details that were different, I won’t go into everything though. like the aegyptiacus, the mirabilis was semi aquatic and featured a paddle tail, a long snout for ambush fishing, and conical teeth. the mirabilis however lived much more inland than the aegypticus who lived in the rivers, swamps, and fished along the ocean. the mirabilis also fished along rivers and marshes, wading through water like a heron looking for prey. hence its nickname the hell heron! the crest of the mirabilis greatly outshined the crest of the aegyptiacus, but paleontologists theorize that it mimics the sail’s possible purposes. maybe their crests were used as a mating display? maybe to threaten or ward off different dinosaurs or other male spinosaurus? the possibilities! the mirabilis is affectionately referred to as a prehistoric unicorn due to its crest size.
this post really got away from me, I am so sorry for the extremely long hyperfixation ramble! I just love the spinosaurus so much, both the aegyptiacus and the mirabilis. butttttt particularly the aegyptiacus
look at this baby. you’re telling me that you wouldn’t want to pet it? to kiss its forehead? sweet baby bean. I need one immediately, I don’t care if he nibbles on my limbs a little or eats my aquarium fish 🐟
I totally forget what your ask even was oh my god. I saw “favorite dinosaur” and my brain immediately went into a crash course hyperfixation ramble over the spinosaurus. well, if anyone actually made it to the end of this post, tell me your favorite part or fact that you learned? or a follow-up question you have?
