Spinosaurus

What it was like

Spinosaurus had a long, narrow skull much like a crocodile's, lined with straight, cone-shaped teeth for gripping slippery prey. Tall spines rose from its backbone, probably covered in skin to form a sail along its back. It grew to roughly 14 meters (46 feet) long, making it one of the longest meat-eating dinosaurs known.

Its legs were short for its body size, and its feet and tail were built more for moving through water than for running on land. Most researchers think it waded or swam, hunting fish alongside other prey.

Its world

Spinosaurus lived from about 106 to 94 million years ago, spanning the Early and Late Cretaceous, in what is now North Africa. Its bones come from Morocco, Egypt, Niger, Algeria, and Tunisia, including rock layers such as Ifezouane and Baharîje.

It shared its river and coastal habitat with other large predators, including Carcharodontosaurus and Deltadromeus, as well as the plant eater Ouranosaurus.

How it was found

Stromer named Spinosaurus in 1915 from bones found in Egypt. The original fossils were destroyed decades later, but new material found since has let paleontologists study the animal again. Around 30 fossil finds of Spinosaurus are known today, still a modest number for such a large animal, so parts of its anatomy remain debated.