Spinosaurus
– The First Semi-Aquatic Dinosaur
Hailey Baggett
Spinosaurus
was a titan in the Cretaceous period – measuring around 60 feet long and up
to 20 tons. This massive dinosaur is not only the largest carnivorous dinosaur ever discovered, it
is also the only currently known semi-aquatic hunter (Hartman, 2014). Despite what all we do
know about Spinosaurus
, there is so much more that we don’t know. What was the purpose of its
sail? Why was it so massive? How did it fit into the evolutionary web and what happened to it?
In this paper, such questions will be explored and some even answered.
Spinosaurus
was first discovered in 1912.
Fossils were discovered by Richard Markgraf in the Bahariya Formation in west Egypt.
The Bahariya Formation is now a famous geological and paleontological dig site in the shape of
a mound, with hundreds of fossils dating back to the Lower Cretaceous Period. Many of the
fossils within the formation are of invertebrates, vertebrate fish, dinosaurs, and plants. Three
years following the discovery of the fossils, German paleontologist Ernst Stromer took to
describing these fossils and publishing his findings. This first specimen, including three
vertebrae with large spines (of which the longest was nearly 6 feet long), a rib, jaw bones and
teeth, and other assorted smaller skeletal pieces, has been called BSP 1912 VIII 19, after the day
and location in which it was found. The massive spines on the vertebrae led Stromer to name the
creature Spinosaurus
, meaning “spine lizard”. Using the specimen and prior knowledge of other
bipedal carnivores, Stromer (1915) believed that Spinosaurus
would have stood upright,
dragging its tail along the ground, on its back a massive dish-shaped fan . As of this time, all they
could do was simply compare what they had found of Spinosaurus
to found fossils of other
theropods (two-legged dinosaurs). Knowledge was, and still is, incredibly limited. Later, the
fossils were destroyed along with other important paleontological findings during World War II,
when the British bombed the Paleontological Museum of Munich in April, 1944. All that
remains of this monumental first specimen are the drawings and descriptions by Stromer (Smith
et al, 2006). Spinosaurus
was lost to history due to lack of interest and no novel fossil finds.
Spinosaurus makes a comeback and is here to stay.
Dale Alan Russel, one of the first paleontologists and geologists to recover evidence that
a meteor may have ended the reign of the dinosaurs, later described a new Spinosaurus
fossil
