Spinosaurus

Spinosaurus is a member of the spinosaurid family that lived on the territory of modern North Africa in the Cretaceous period (112-93.5 million years ago).

For the first time this type of dinosaur was discovered in Egypt by the German paleontologist Ernst Stromer in 1915, who brought the skeleton in Munich. However, during the Second World War, during the bombing, the bones of the Spinosaurus were destroyed. Only drawings and rare photographs of Sttromer have survived to this day.

Spinosaurus is well known from destroyed fossils, not counting recently discovered teeth and skull elements. Recently discovered in Morocco, the fossils of the lower limbs of spinosaurus probably belonged to a young individual, as they reached a small size. The jaw and skull elements presented in 2005 show that he possessed one of the longest skulls among all carnivorous dinosaurs, reaching more than 1.5 meters in length. The skull had a narrow muzzle with jaws filled with straight cone-shaped teeth. The largest of the spinosaurus specimens, known only from skull fragments, according to various reconstruction options could have a length of 12.57 to 16 meters and a mass of 7 to 12 tons, and under certain assumptions in the reconstruction - up to 20 tons. However, other known fossils of adult and almost adult spinosaurs make it difficult to identify it as the largest theropod in history, since these individuals are noticeably inferior in size even to young baryonyx and suchomimus.

One of the distinguishing features of Spinosaurus is its spine. The processes of the dorsal and caudal vertebrae form a kind of "sail" with their size and shape. Other dinosaurs had similar formations. The purpose of the "sail" is the subject of numerous discussions. One of the latest hypotheses is its role as a hydrostabilizer.