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Spinosaurus News ~

India brotherbear Offline
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( This post was last modified: 09-12-2014, 02:20 AM by brotherbear )

http://news.msn.com/science-technology/a...r-unveiled
 
The beast, called Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, was already known to scientists from a long-ago fossil discovery, but most of those bones were destroyed during World War II. Now, 70 years later, a new skeleton found in Morocco reveals that the beast was far more aquatic than originally thought.

Spinosaurus had a long neck, strong clawed forearms, powerful jaws and the dense bones of a penguin. It propelled itself in water with flat feet that were probably webbed, according to a study released Thursday by the journal Science. The beast sported a spiny sail on its back that was 7 feet tall when it lived 95 million years ago.

"It's like working on an extraterrestrial or an alien," study lead author Nizar Ibrahim of the University of Chicago said, while standing in front of a room-sized reconstruction of the skeleton at the National Geographic Society. "It's so different than anything else around."

Ibrahim described the creature as "so bizarre it's going to force dinosaur experts to rethink many things they thought they knew about dinosaurs."

Scientists had thought that all dinosaurs stuck to the land, with occasional brief trips into the water. But the new skeleton shows clear evidence of river and lake living: hip bones like a whale's, dense bones that allowed it to dive for food, and nostrils positioned high on the skull, allowing Spinosaurus to mostly submerge.

It could walk and would probably nest on land, but on land it moved more awkwardly than on water, said study co-author Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago. It lumbered on its two hind feet because its powerful forelegs with sharp curved claws were designed more for killing than walking, he said.


 
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chaos Offline
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#2

Interesting. This is one of a host of new discoveries changing the direction of how
many "traditionally" percieved dinosaurs. Its excting news. Thanks for posting  BB.
 
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sanjay Offline
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( This post was last modified: 09-12-2014, 09:53 AM by sanjay )

Thanks brotherbear, Here is more information i found on sciencedaily.

According to scientists Spinosaurus was first semi-aquatic dinosaur with massive built. This top predator was more than 9 feet longer than largest Tyrannosaurus Rex

Source: University of Chicago, Date: 11-sep-2014

Details: On sep 11, 2014, Scientists revealed about first truly semi-aquatic dinosaur, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. New fossils of the massive and largest cretaceous-era predator shows that it adapted to live in the water some 95 million years ago, The evidence is more compelling and clearly shows that they successfully lived and hunt in an aquatic environment. The fossils found indicate that Spinosaurus was the largest known predatory dinosaur to roam the Earth, It was more than nine feet longer than the world's largest Tyrannosaurus rex specimen.

The researchers came to their conclusions after analyzing new fossils uncovered in the Moroccan Sahara and a partial Spinosaurus skull and other remains housed in museum collections around the world as well as historical records and images from the first reported Spinosaurus discovery in Egypt more than 100 years ago. According to lead author Ibrahim, a 2014 National Geographic Emerging Explorer, "Working on this animal was like studying an alien from outer space; it's unlike any other dinosaur I have ever seen."

The aquatic adaptations of Spinosaurus differ significantly from earlier members of the spinosaurid family that lived on land but were known to eat fish. These adaptations include:
  1. Small nostrils located in the middle of the skull. The small size and placement of the nostrils farther back on the skull allowed Spinosaurus to breathe when part of its head was in water.
  2. Neurovascular openings at the end of the snout. Similar openings on crocodile and alligator snouts contain pressure receptors that enable them to sense movement in water. It's likely these openings served a comparable function in Spinosaurus.
  3. Giant, slanted teeth that interlocked at the front of the snout. The conical shape and location of the teeth were well-suited for catching fish.
  4. A long neck and trunk that shifted the dinosaur's center of mass forward. This made walking on two legs on land nearly impossible, but facilitated movement in water.
  5. Powerful forelimbs with curved, blade-like claws. These claws were ideal for hooking or slicing slippery prey.
  6. A small pelvis and short hind legs with muscular thighs. As in the earliest whales, these adaptations were for paddling in water and differ markedly from other predatory dinosaurs that used two legs to move on land.
  7. Particularly dense bones lacking the marrow cavities typical to predatory dinosaurs. Similar adaptations, which enable buoyancy control, are seen in modern aquatic animals like king penguins.
  8. Strong, long-boned feet and long, flat claws. Unlike other predators, Spinosaurus had feet similar to some shorebirds that stand on or move across soft surfaces rather than perch. In fact, Spinosaurus may have had webbed feet for walking on soft mud or paddling.
  9. Loosely connected bones in the dinosaur's tail. These bones enabled its tail to bend in a wave-like fashion, similar to tails that help propel some bony fish.
  10. Enormous dorsal spines covered in skin that created a gigantic "sail" on the dinosaur's back. The tall, thin, blade-shaped spines were anchored by muscles and composed of dense bone with few blood vessels. This suggests the sail was meant for display and not to trap heat or store fat. The sail would have been visible even when the animal entered the water.

More than a century ago, German paleontologist Ernst Freiherr Stromer von Reichenbach first discovered evidence of Spinosaurus in the Egyptian Sahara. Sadly, all of Stromer's fossils were destroyed during the April 1944 Allied bombing of Munich, Germany. Ibrahim, however, was able to track down Stromer's surviving notes, sketches and photos in archives and at the Stromer family castle in Bavaria to supplement Stromer's surviving publications.

The new Spinosaurus fossils were discovered in the Moroccan Sahara along desert cliffs known as the Kem Kem beds. This area was once a large river system, stretching from present-day Morocco to Egypt. At the time, a variety of aquatic life populated the system, including large sharks, coelacanths, lungfish and crocodile-like creatures, along with giant flying reptiles and predatory dinosaurs.

The most important of the new fossils, a partial skeleton uncovered by a local fossil hunter, was spirited out of the country. As a result, critical information about the context of the find was seemingly lost, and locating the local fossil hunter in Morocco was nearly impossible. Remarked Ibrahim, "It was like searching for a needle in a desert." After an exhaustive search, Ibrahim finally found the man and confirmed the site of his original discovery.

Here is a related video i found




More info at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201...142714.htm
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GuateGojira Offline
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( This post was last modified: 09-14-2014, 08:46 PM by GuateGojira )

Excellent, so here ENDS the myth that Spinosaurus could kill the Tyrannosaurus everywhere!!! T. rex would have surely won on land and Spinosaurus will won on water.

At the end, this was a huge predator, but not like the monster in Jurassic Park 3. Check the "old" (way more accurate than Jurassic Park freak) and the new conception:

*This image is copyright of its original author


*This image is copyright of its original author

This new form describe an animal of about 50 feet (15.2 m) long, which is around 9 ft (2.74 m) longer than the largest T.rex ever found ("Sue" at 12.3-12.8 m, depending of the source).

I am amazed how this practically "lost" giant is now returning with all its glory. This is what we need wit the Ngandong tiger, some serious paleontologist that could "re-discover" the old fossils and describe it properly. But, who will be our champion??? [img]images/smilies/huh.gif[/img]

At least, the Spinosaurus has Dr Paul Sereno. [img]images/smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
 
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GuateGojira Offline
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Well guys, here is the final papers on the discovery of this new Spinosaurus specimen and how they extrapolate it to the maximum known size of the species and get the new results:
1. http://lib.gen.in/deaae269b989589a593b63...im2014.pdf
2. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/...him.SM.pdf

Download them now!

Here is the article from NatGeo:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/...r-science/

Enjoy the reading, post your comments here.
 
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India brotherbear Offline
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( This post was last modified: 11-12-2014, 08:02 AM by brotherbear )

I watched a National Geo special on Nova: "Bigger than T-rex" about Spinosaurus. A very good documentary, in my opinion.

 
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GuateGojira Offline
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( This post was last modified: 11-13-2014, 11:06 AM by GuateGojira )

Excellent Brotherbear, I hope to see the documentary soon too.

I have recently bough the NatGeo magazine with the article about the Spino. I most confess that I have not read it yet, only saw the draws, but there is a size comparison that is awesome there. I will scan the page and I will put it here. [img]images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

 
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United States Pckts Offline
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*This image is copyright of its original author
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India brotherbear Offline
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https://theconversation.com/australias-f...vered-1844  
 
Paleontologists think it had the snout of a crocodile, the claws of a bear and a taste for seafood.

But what’s most interesting about the discovery of Australia’s first fish-eating dinosaur is its similarities with specimens found in Asia and Europe, shedding light on how dinosaurs spread around the world in the Cretaceous period (125-100 million years ago).
Researchers from London’s Natural History Museum, the University of Cambridge, Museum Victoria and Monash University have determined that a dinosaur vertebra found on the Victorian coast belonged to a member of the Spinosauridae, a group of fish-eating dinosaurs usually found in Europe and Asia.
“The new fossil is the first example of a spinosaurid dinosaur from Australia,” researcher Paul Barrett from the UK’s Natural History Museum was quoted as saying on the museum’s website.
“It is almost identical to the Natural History Museum’s own Baryonyxspecimen from England.”

Baryonyx was a 10-metres-long dinosaur, had a crocodile-shaped mouth and claws like a bear.

“This discovery significantly extends the geographical range of spinosaurids, suggesting that the clade obtained a near-global distribution before the onset of Pangaean fragmentation,” the researchers wrote in their paper, which was published in the journal Biology Letters.
Pangaea was a single supercontinent that covered the world before eventually breaking up into continents. A clade is a group of organisms with a common ancestor.
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United Kingdom Spalea Offline
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*This image is copyright of its original author
Perhaps the forelegs are a little bit too massive. This is not a very scientific sketch... And what about the possible existence of feathers ?
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India brotherbear Offline
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It has been my opinion that only coelurosaurs had feathers; though I could be wrong. Also, your drawing is great, but it has been found that Spinosaurus was less bipedal. 
http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/sci...02175.html
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United Kingdom Spalea Offline
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(07-03-2016, 02:55 PM)brotherbear Wrote: It has been my opinion that only coelurosaurs had feathers; though I could be wrong. Also, your drawing is great, but it has been found that Spinosaurus was less bipedal. 
http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/sci...02175.html

Less bipedal ? OK, I also think that "my" spinosaurus is a little bit too dynamic, at least on land. Perhaps, unconsciously, I am influenced by the movie "Jurassique Park III"...
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India brotherbear Offline
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Spinosaurus by James Bear...
 
*This image is copyright of its original author
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United States Polar Offline
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Is there actual evidence that Spinosaurus was a quadruped?
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United Kingdom Spalea Offline
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@Polar:

In the #13 painting, we can see fore limbs and hind limbs equally in length, and thus, in power. Thus, this spinosaurus should be a quadruped. In opposite of the Jurassik Park 3 spinosaurus which was frankly a biped. This should be easy, according to a complete skeleton, to notice whats limbs are the most developed...

But I don't know if there is a complete skeleton now...  But some archives should actually exist about the old and complete spinosaurus skeletton which was destroyed during the world war II. So it would be possible to know if the spinosaurus was biped or quadruped...
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