Dino card No. 1691 of 2,015

Spinosaurus

Say it: SPY-nuh-SOR-us

Name means: “spine lizard”1

Ate: MeatSpinosaursEarly Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous

Spinosaurus was one of the biggest meat-eating dinosaurs, even bigger than T. rex! It had a huge sail on its back made of long spines, and a long snout like a crocodile. It lived in rivers and swamps in North Africa.1

Lived

126 to 72 million years ago2

Early Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

North Africa: Egypt, Morocco, Niger, Algeria, Tunisia, and possibly Kenya2 1

Food

Meat2 1

Length

up to 14 m1

scientists estimate

Weight

up to 7.4 tonnes1

Artist's life restoration of Spinosaurus — How Spinosaurus may have looked, by Nobu Tamura. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Scientists still argue about colours and details.

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

Spinosaurus had a sail on its back made of spines that could grow up to 1.65 metres (5.4 feet) long.1

Its skull was long and narrow like a crocodile, with straight conical teeth that had few or no serrations.1

Spinosaurus had short legs and a long, paddle-shaped tail, which suggests it was a good swimmer.1

It lived in mangrove forests and river systems along the coast of the Tethys Sea.1

The original Spinosaurus fossils were destroyed during World War II, but new ones have been found since.1

Spinosaurus is one of the largest known carnivorous dinosaurs, possibly longer than Tyrannosaurus rex.1

Its name means 'spine lizard' because of the long spines on its back.1

Spinosaurus had large, strong forelimbs with three fingers and a big claw on the first finger.1

Myth buster

Myth: Spinosaurus was a land hunter like T. rex.

Truth: Spinosaurus was semi-aquatic and mostly ate fish, using its crocodile-like snout and paddle tail for swimming.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Spinosaurus
Named by: Stromer 19152
Group: Spinosaurs
Family / clade: Spinosauridae2
Classification: Theropoda > Spinosauridae2
Age of the rocks: 126 to 72 million years (Barremian to Campanian)2
Rock formations: Gara Sbaa, Ifezouane, Aïn el Guettar2
Countries: Morocco, Egypt, Niger, Tunisia, Algeria, Kenya2
Fossil records: 44 in the Paleobiology Database2
Discovery: The first Spinosaurus fossils were found in Egypt in 1912 and described by German palaeontologist Ernst Stromer in 1915. Those original fossils were destroyed in World War II.1
Still debated: Scientists debate whether Spinosaurus had one or two species, and whether some fossils belong to a different dinosaur called Sigilmassasaurus.1

Where the facts come from

Spinosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Spinosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@dinowiki.app and we will fix it.