Extinct Creatures #8~ Spinosaurus aegypticus

Last week I shared with you a couple herbivorous dinosaurs of the Gondwanan mid-Cretaceous, which naturally led some folks to ask about one of the most popular carnivorous dinosaurs of that time and place-- Spinosaurus aegypticus. It also happens to be one of my top fave dinosaurs, because it is so unique and huge! Though it also has a fair amount of Discourse surrounding it at the moment.

It's gone through some changes recently, and reconstructing it before we've resolved all its odd anatomical anomalies is a little difficult, but this seems to be a fairly standard model now. It had much shorter legs than we thought, and its sail also may have had a very odd concave shape rather than the large rounded sail we're used to seeing. Some have theorized the sail could have been more of a hump that it used as a kind of floatation device, and that's what I've drawn-- as well as adding some treelike stripes, which may have helped it blend in with its swampy surroundings (something I have also seen Arvalis do, but in glorious color). I also just really love stripes.

Spinosaurus aegypticus is the only semi-aquatic non-avian dinosaur we've found, which is amazing!! So it makes sense that its back legs are shorter and less adapted for running around on land. Though its hands weren't super adapted to being quadrupedal, and many folks are on the fence about whether it's a quadruped or biped on land, some have theorized it could have occasionally walked on its knuckles and I like that idea. We'll see if that idea holds any water, but in the meantime, I will have my fun. (Though now that I think about it that baby S. aegypticus should be fully bipedal! Whoops!! Let's just say it is trying to copy its parent)

Because of its semi-aquatic lifestyle, it also most likely didn't have any protofeathers. But since protofeathers are an ancestral trait, it's possible baby S. aegypticus could have had a little coat of protofeathers that they'd lose early on. Just imagine you're standing on a mid-Cretaceous riverbank and you see a huge, slightly camouflaged mass floating past, covered in tiny peeping fluffy babies. Right before the panic of being so close to a massive fanged protective mother sets in, you'd be so happy.

Oh, and in case you were wondering what they use those big chompers for, they eat mostly fish. There were some VERY big fish in the rivers of this period, so they had plenty to eat, even at their size. Though I'm sure, like most carnivores and even some "herbivores", they wouldn't turn down a nice carcass, no matter the species.

PS I am still not an expert so this is all based on me looking at what the experts are saying and filtering it through my non-expert lens! So if I said something that is incorrect or not quite up to date, feel free to call me out and point me in the direction of The Good Stuff.

Thank you so much for your continued support,

-Abby