Lord Vader
MemberTyrannosaurus RexAug-06-2014 9:27 AMSpinosaurus: The Internet's Most Overrated Dinosaur
Yes, I do know this could piss some people off. No, I don't care how this is viewed.
Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus, perhaps the longest and tallest theropod to walk the Earth. At around sixty feet in length, almost twenty two feet in height, upwards of twenty tons in weight, wielding seven foot long arms with claws over a foot long, Spinosaurus seems like an unstoppable monstrosity. Not the case. We don't actually know how big the creature got.
Could it be over sixty feet long? Yes. Could it be over twenty tons in weight? Yes. Could it have seven plus foot long arms with claws over a foot long? Yes. Is this likely? Hell no! It's more like 99.999999999% not a flippin' chance in hell.
First discovered in the Sahara desert in 1912, Spinosaurus's very existence was proven by fragmentary remains that were in poor condition. Just the same, the bones were brought to Germany and looked at before being bombed in World War 2.
Average size estimates for Spinosaurus range anywhere from five to nine tons (scientific), to twelve plus tons (Spinosaurus fanboys). Let's say, by some fanboy miracle, Spinosaurus was over twelve tons in weight, it would likely be unstoppable in its time, as Carcharodontosaurus, a large theropod that lived alongside it, has no fanboys putting it at freakishly (not to mention unreasonably) large.
I will say, quite a dinosaur Spinosaurus is. It's amazing what speculation will do.
From this:
We have this: 
On the topic of Spinosaurus being oversized by fanboys, here are two comparisons.
I heard somewhere that the small dinosaur is Allosaurus. Must be a young one I guess.
I also heard that the small dinosaur is a Tyrannosaurus Rex. That's a funny way of spelling "Gorgosaurus" if you ask me.
And now, here's a link to an event by national geographic, stating Spinosaurus's size. It says over fifty feet long, twenty feet tall, and six tons in weight. Don't believe me? Click here
Back to size, here is a comparison with Spinosaurus that is actually reasonable. 
What else makes Spinosaurus overrated by internet fanboys? Since the extreme size is BS, here's more reasons it is overrated. Diet and behaviour.
Let's start with diet. Spinosaurus was mainly piscivorous, meaning it ate mostly fish. I know what you're thinking, the fish it ate were huge. That's why it's assumed Spinosaurus, much like it's relatives, had large arms. How large? No one knows, though it's often speculated at about six feet long. Using it's long, thin jaws and conical teeth, Spinosaurus would be able to grab its prey and hold it in place while the large arms and claws did the dirty work. After killing, or during the process of killing, Spinosaurus would likely walk to shore, drop the fish, and begin eating.
Why the big arms if it would just carry it's victims in its mouth? It needed the arms to be able to reach far enough to actually do anything to said victim. There is no doubt that Spinosaurus would be able to carry its victims in its mouth as it likely didn't catch anything over a ton in weight. For an idea on strength to support Spinosaurus being able to easily carry heavy fish, the Jurassic Fight Club version of Tyrannosaurus Rex (about seven tons in weight) was capable of carrying a five ton Edmontosaurus carcass. It carried something that was over half it's weight, so Spinosaurus should have no trouble lifting and carrying something a mere sixth of its weight.
What does behaviour have anything to do with this? Well, being mainly piscivorous, it would be put into less competition with other predators such as Carcharodontosaurus. Less competition means less fighting, which means not as good at fighting as similar sized, or even smaller predators such as Carcharodontosaurus.
Spinosaurus also had a large sail on its back. It would likely be useful for temperature control, but beyond that, it's only other useful purpose would be making Spinosaurus look larger, a great intimidation tactic. The sail however, was attached to its spine. If Spinosaurus got past the intimidation part of a fight, the sail would be nothing but trouble during the actual fight. If the sail was hit hard enough, or Spinosaurus was knocked onto its back, the fight would be over, as the Spinosaurus would be dead or paralyzed.
Jack of all trades. Master of none
it can be done, but basing off of a drawing done almost 150 years ago? i mean here's what we get:
n his paper Carpenter* says he simply scaled up Diplodocus c.'s vertebra to 2.7 meters. The only problem is that he used the dimensions from Seismosaurus for diplodocus's vert, but said the length of Diplodocus was only 26.25 meters
This small mistake of recording diplodocus's vert as 1.22 meters instead of .946 meters has lead to the widespread belief that Amphicoelias was 60 meters long and 120 tons in weight. In reality using carpenter's method with the correct numbers we get, 2.7/.946=2.864. 2.854x26.25 meters=75 meters long. Also 2.856^3=23.2. 23.2x12 tons=278 tons.
off of this vertabrate, which we don't even know if it was the 10th,9th, or even 12th dorsal! That could change some estimates pretty drastically..
Nature doesn't deceive us; it is we who deceive ourselves.
The world will spin well past our last breath, but I will always care about you
