Discover the amazing story of Spinosaurus: The largest predatory dinosaur to ever roam the Earth!
This amazing oddyssey started back in 1912 to finish in September 2014. Really cool!
North Africa, 95 million years ago, was crisscrossed by rivers, dotted with marshes and populated with all sorts of reptilian monsters. Back in 1912, German paleontologist Ernst Stromer brought back a few bones from a strange-looking predator he called Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. The animal was clearly a predator, even bigger than T. Rex.
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According to a new article published in Science Magazine, the weird dino was even stranger than Stromer realized. With its nearly 50 ft. long, this dinosaur represents the biggest predatory dinosaur ever found, by about nine feet. It had a long snout like a crocodile and a big sail on its back (the biggest ever found on a dinosaur).
A mythological DRAGON?
Not exactly! Spinosaurus is the first swimming dinosaur ever discovered (ichthyosaurs weren’t dinosaurs, so they don’t count). It had relatively puny hind legs with wide feet and flat claws that are ideal for paddling. Its tail, was flexible (propelling device through water?), its nostrils were high up on its head.
Its terrifying skull resembles the skull of fish-eating crocodiles, and the tip of the snout, with its slanted, interlocking teeth, is like a fish-catching trap. The sail, most probably brightly colored, was almost certainly used to attract females. Watch the amazing story of the biggest, weirdest predatory dinosaur ever found:
You can see Spinosaurus itself, meanwhile, at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C., starting September 12.
