Jezza
MemberCompsognathusMarch 10, 2014WARNING: My theories may different than yours, If you have is a problem with that than I suggest you don't read any further.
Today I will discuss my opions on Spinosaurus' size, behavior, hunting, diet, and anatomy. I will try not to make any grammar mistakes (though I'm not promising much).
Size:
Spinosaurus' size has been estimated to be around 11-15 tons by most paleontologists. Some say that he was 6-7.5 tons (not pointing fingers), but they have no evidence for it. We only have some ribs, spines, and the lower part of a jaw to work with here. There is no way to tell what its exact size was, but judging from its length and height, it would have most likely been over 12 tons. It could have looked like Planet Dinosaur, Monsters Ressurected (unlikely, but still), Walking With Dinosurs, JP III, or even Primal Carnage. We do have other spinosaur remains we can look at though. The point is, we don't know exactly how these animals were.
Height: 23-26ft.-Length: 56-60ft.-Weight: 11-15 tons
Head:
Since we only have a partial skull, there is no way to tell for sure what its head was like.
Spinosaur heads are some of the most interresting heads in the animal kingdom. They were 7-8ft long, crocodile-like, with long, conical teeth. They had a small crest in-between heir eyes, no one knows for sure what it was for though.
There jaws were fairly narrow for such a large animal, but still lethal. Its long jaws were eight feet long and powerful. Though maybe not as powerful as a T-rex, but strong none the less. I estimate it to be around 5.5-6.5 tons, while Rex has a 9-10 ton bite force.
Their snout was very speciallized, the end of a spinosaurus' snout had pores. These pores are presumed to be pressure sensors, like those of a modern day croc. They were very sensitive and strong, they would sense movement, but this would mean that they swam as well.
Teeth:
Spinosaurus had long, conical teeth that were anywhere from 5-14.5in. long. These teeth were perfect for skewering fish and leaving deep puncture wounds in large animals. Some people say that Spino had weak, eaily breakable teeth, but there were heavily armored fish then, those teeth had to go through tough skin and scales of prey and competitors. They were great for holding things in place so it could bring its claws into play.
Recently, scientistswere examining a spinosaurus tooth and found fine little serrations on them. These serrations were so small that no one had ever noticed before. The serrations probably only helped some, if the victim was struggling or spino was moving his jaws violently, then the serrations would have made some damage and made the wound bigger. This is to be studied some more, but it is possible that spino had serrated teeth.
With the shape of their teeth, they would had to thrash their heads around to rip off large chunks of meat and swollowing them whole, much like a crocodile.
Eyes:
We don't much about what their eyes were like, but judging from other spinosaurs, they were most likely binocular.
I believe spinosaurus probably swam, but not have swam either. If it did, than I believe it probably had a third eyelid to protect its eye ball from sand and grit floating around. But even if it didn't swim, it would have most likely had a third eyelid to protect its eye from sandstorms.
Hearing:
Not much is none about its hearing, but using other spinosaurs' (we have use reference to other spinosaurs because of the lack of fossil evidence from spinosaurus) ears, they were probably not the best in the animal kingdom. But only time will tell, maybe someday, we'll find some more fossils.
Olfactory Glands:
Olfactory glands are just a fancy word for nostrils.
The spinosaurus' sense of smell was very strong like T-rex's. They had very large nasal chamber to capture even the slightest smell.
Claws/Arms:
Spinosaurus had massive claws the size of meat hooks that were upwards of 15in. These massive claws were thick and serrated, razor sharp knives. But that's not all, they were suspended on giant 7ft. arms strong enough to punch those claws through metal.
Sail:
There are too many speculations on its sail to count. Some believe it was actually a hump, some believe i was a sail. Some believe it was for display, it changed colors, it regulated the body.
I think it was used to regulate body temperature and attract mates. I don't believe however that it was a hump, but it wasn' just skin.
Just think about it. If a spino is running, its sail would be floppingf around a bit, and probably causing spinal damage. If it was a hump, than would most likely over-heat, being so large a having a hump weighing him down even more. I propose that its sail had a build up of muscle and/or fat at the base of its sail, then it gets thinner as it goes up to the top of the sail. It can still regulate, display to mates, and not get bogged down by a massive hump.
There are also people who say that he wasn't agile or very manueverable, but that's just not the case. Its spinal collumns were very flexible and jointed, giving it an amazing amount of mobility.
Diet:
I don't believe in evolution so this is my list.
Hadrosaurs (Ouranosaurus), Sauropods, fish, buffalo, zebra, wildebeast, crocodiles, carrion, etc.
I don't think a dinosaur that big would just eat fish. It would need a wider diet, eating larger, more satisfying meals.
Hunting:
Spinosaurus probably stayed close to the water a lot of the time fish and ambushing herbivores from the water like a croc.
Using its pressure sensors I mentioned earlier, it would find prey easily in the murky water. Sneaking up on its drinking prey from the depths, and then darting out like a flash and grabbing it. Then, using its immense strength and size, drag it below the surface of the water to drown.
Swimming wouldn't be a problem for Spinosaurus, with its powerful tail, webbed claws and feet it would glide through water with ease.
Now onto its land based hunting. It probably didn't do this too much, if the fish were scarce and the it was the dry season, then it would go out hunting for a meal on land. Likely anything it could catch. It might go kill an ouranosaurus, buffalo, or a good sized sauropod to have for dinner.
I truely think that this is one of the most awesome creatures God has made.
Thank you readers for reading my discussion, hope you liked it and shed some more light on Spinosaurus' life.
Personnally, I think the pc game Primal Carnage has got it pretty close to what I imagine to have been.
Feel FREE to comment below, I'm always welcome to new ideas.
Next, if you liked this, I'll talk about my other favorite dino...Acrocanthosaursus.
Youre fat, and I'm not sugarcoating it cause you'd probably eat that too.
We can debate about geology and paleontology all day long and not get very far (see how we're both stubborn). You are a Uniformitarian, I'm a Catastrophist, we have different thoughts on earths past. I've recently read a lot on geology, both points of view, and I am sticky with catastrophism. You say it takes a thousand years to deposit one foot of sediments. In my science book, it showed a 20 foot tall wall of sedimentary rock that was formed in less than 5 hours. Tke Engineers' Canyon for example, there is another canyon next to it formed in a day, not a million years.
These are petrified remains of binoculars and a hat. The hat was found in a mine in Tasmainia.
This is a water wheel that was petrified in 60 years. If it takes only 60 years for this to petrify, why would it take millions for fossils to petrify?
Take it how you want, either way, we both have to have faith in something. You have to have faith that the earth is millions of years old and evolution is true as you say, and I have to have faith the Bible is true. Both view points have a lot of evidence to support them. But I, being slightly biased like all other person with scientific views, am leaning towards Creation and catastrophism. I also really don't see how the Big Bang Theory (not the show) is even a theory at all. The idea of a sudden explosion of energies floating around in nothing creating everything in the precise positions to support life on Earth. There had to be something more intelligent than that.
The Great Flood Had a lot to do with geology and paleontology. The constant shifts and current of the water coming from the bottom of the ocean would have had dramatic affect on everything. Different ainmals would be strewn in different places and buried in different layers of sediments. Uniformitarian geologists take different layers of the earth with the same animals that don't even line up, and tell us that it is a timeline. They take a layer here and a layer there and say, "Ah, that's close enough together that they are the same." That's uniformitarianism for ya.
I got this information from my science book, 'Exploraing Creation With General Science', by Dr. Jay L. Wile. Check it out.
This has been a fun debate, I like dabating things like this.
Youre fat, and I'm not sugarcoating it cause you'd probably eat that too.
