About DinoTrek 2

Spinosaurus

Lived : 95 - 90 million years ago
Period : Late Cretaceous
Length : 18 meters
Height : 5 meters
Weight : 4,000 kilograms
Diet : Carnivore
Fossils Found : Egypt, Morocco

Name
Meaning - Spinosaurus means "spiny lizard" because it had large bony spines on its back
Pronounced - SPINE-O-SAWR-us
Named By - Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach
When Named – 1915

Diet
Carnivore (meat-eater). Spinosaurus probably ate plant-eating dinosaurs and large fish.

Size
Length - 40 - 50 feet (12-15 m) long
Weight - 4 tons or more

When it lived
Late Cretaceous period, about 97.5-95 million years ago

Where it lived
Fossils have been found in Egypt and Morocco, Africa.

Fossils
Incomplete fossils have been found, including blade-like neural spines up to 6 feet (1.8 m) long. The original fragmentary fossil specimen from Egypt (found in 1912) was destroyed in World War 2.

Interesting facts
Spinosaurus' sail may have been for heat dissipation - it lived in a swampy environment near the equator during the warm Cretaceous period. The sail may have also been used to attract mates or seem bigger than it was.

Classification

  • Kingdom Animalia (animals)
  • Phylum Chordata (having a hollow nerve chord ending in a brain)
  • Class Archosauria (diapsids with socket-set teeth, etc.)
  • Order Saurischia – lizard-hipped dinosaurs
  • Suborder Theropoda - bipedal carnivores
  • Tetanura - advanced theropods
  • Family Spinosauria - huge Cretaceous period predators with crocodiIe-Iike jaws and neural spines forming a sail
  • Genus Spinosaurus
  • Species S. aegyptiacus (type species named by Stromer, 1915)