Is Spinosaurus fully aquatic?

Spinosaurus is described as semi-aquatic and inferred to have been occupying a similar niche to crocodilians (Arden et al., 2018). This considers Spinosaurus to be an animal highly adapted to life in water, with perhaps a reduced terrestrial capacity (Ibrahim et al., 2014).

Are Spinosaurus good swimmer?

“Spinosaurus was probably a decent swimmer, and certainly a better swimmer than any other known large theropod [bipedal, mostly meat-eating dinosaurs],” study co-researcher Thomas Holtz, principal lecturer in vertebrate paleontology at the University of Maryland, told Live Science in an email.

Is Spinosaurus bipedal?

Limited by the specimen, reconstructions of Spinosaurus relied on other fossil records of theropods from that time, giving Spinosaurus a bipedal stance and a short snout, like other theropods.

Did Spinosaurus swim?

The new fossil, found in 2018, presents a nearly complete skeleton of this swimming-dinosaur found in mainland Africa till date. The tail of the Spinosaurus is a flexible, paddle-like tail, which may have helped them propel through water, just like today’s crocodiles, says the study.

How big was Spinosaurus’ tail?

But excavations in the Moroccan Sahara Desert between 2015 and 2019 uncovered new Spinosaurus bones, including the long-sought tail. It turns out that this tail was made up of tall spines, some as long as 1 m (3.3 ft), as well as elongated chevrons – the bones that protrude out from under the vertebrae. Drawings: Marco Auditore.

What is Spinosaurus aegyptiacus?

Included in the wreckage was the only known partial skeleton of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, a peculiar dinosaur that would later ignite an intense debate among paleontologists. The fossilized bits, first discovered in Egypt in the early 1910s, seemed to challenge the idea that all dinosaurs were strictly land-dwellers.

Were dinosaurs aquatic predators after all?

The discovery of a giant fossilised tail belonging to the theropod Spinosaurus aegyptiacus suggests these huge predators were aquatic animals after all, using tail-propelled locomotion to swim and hunt in rivers millions of years ago.