A Look into how Spinosaurus Fed

Spinosaurus is in the news again, and not because of the swimming and wading debate, but because its jaws were very unique, not perfectly resembling those of its relatives, or of any modern species. This paper looks at that, and what it means for how Spinosaurus, and its relatives would have fed.
Read the paper here:
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[@DreadEnder]

“Evaluating the ecology of Spinosaurus” is the current working title of my EPQ. Unfortunately in source hunting I found one with the exact same title and it’s also a review paper which is what I’m doing. Luckily it’s decently old and I could do a re-evaluation so my research isn’t lost.

[@richardnicklin654]

Make sure that you note that they’re like polar bears: living in a mosaic habitat broken up by water, they need to be very good swimmers but they don’t really tend to take their prey while swimming.

[@DreadEnder]

@@richardnicklin654 yes two things I will include would be environment and the fact that even if it didn’t hunt in the water it doesn’t mean it couldn’t swim.

[@NINE93THREE]

7:43 my brain was not ready to witness a Tyrannosaurs cosplaying as a Mallard Duck lol

[@vincentx2850]

The jaw shape of Spinosaurus reminds me the most of a pike conger, a type of large marine eel. It has a large rosette of fangs at the end of its long pointy jaws, and has a notch just behind the rosette. This is a fearsome hunter feeding mainly on large fish.

[@Andreas_42]

Spinosaurus - the gift that keeps giving.

[@MrPink-qf1xi]

I am not surprised, something the size of these dinosaurs could eat whatever they can get. Glad to see the difference between those two families.

[@Jackkalpakian]

Most Crocodiles and even Varanids are generalist predators and wont shy away from a land or aquatic prey item. This was a great presentation of the research. They were probably going after anything they could get anyway they could.

[@cowskier4105]

There was a paper last summer proposing that more comparisons should be done between spinosaurs and phytosaurs. I'd love to see phytosaurs put into these analyses.

[@Carlos-bz5oo]

Yeah, phytosaurs are underated and probably more functionally similar to spinosaurs than crocodiles

[@danielmalinen6337]

So, in the end, the new paper was not about "Spinosaurus was not a fish eater at all according to the new study" but about a broader comparison of spinosaurids. Thanks again to the tabloid media for misleading. And I have been afraid of getting to know this new paper for nothing.

[@hyksos74]

We know that Spinosaurus did eat fish, probably including Onchopristis, as bits of fish have been found in the Spinosaurus jaws.

[@centeroftheuniverse7196]

@@hyksos74their barbs to be precise. I think bbc showed on in its ankle if I remember? Or maybe it was just jaw.

[@hyksos74]

@@centeroftheuniverse7196 I seem to remember it was a bit of vertebra stuck in a tooth socket.

[@AncientWildTV]

@@hyksos74 Spinosaurus lived in a semi-aquatic environment, possibly in river systems or delta regions. it might have spent a significant amount of time in water, unlike many other theropods.

[@artificercreator]

Woa, it is Super cool Detective Work! Thanks for the explanations, i didn't know the analysis could get that complex! Is like a puzzle, it is fun!

[@maxallen5510]

I’ve always thought of spinosaurus as more of a giant heron bear

[@ricklynghaug4117]

Great study - pretty insightful. Spino's mysteries are slowly being revealed. Good science.

[@drevean1]

Lmao at “twerking forces”. I know you meant to say “torquing” forces but now i get to laugh at the image of a little lizard bouncing its ass around to escape the clutches of a spino

[@paolopasaol9700]

Miley Spinos: 🎶 I CAME IN LIKE A WREEECKING BAAAAAALLLLLL.... 🎶

[@Epanteriasamplexus]

Great video! By the way, may I ask where did you get your t-shirt?

[@miquelescribanoivars5049]

I wonder if Baryonichids relied more in the forelimbs and its enlarged claws to capture and process prey.

[@limoucheu8522]

A very few is known about forelimbs of spinosaurinae. The only informations we have are simple transposition of baryonychine condition (with these enormous deltopectoral crest on humeri indicate enormous muscles), to the spinosaurinae. We need more specimens.

[@ecaillette]

I just discovered your channel, great work! Also, congrats on your T-Shirt, that’s some grade A paleontology trolling right there, very fitting for the topic!

[@RaptorChatter]

Glad you like the content! The shirt reflects my own cynical ideas about taxonomy,

[@mr.jglokta191]

So Spinosaurus was a prehistoric crocodilian/kodiak bear hybrid 😆

[@David-ni5hj]

More crocodile/heron, Spinys aren't robust

[@David-ni5hj]

More crocodile/heron, Spinys aren't robust

[@mr.jglokta191]

@@David-ni5hj I chose the bear because of how they sometimes use their claws when fishing

[@Charlie-Charlot]

Something that doesn’t get talk nearly as much as it should about spinosaurus in my opinion is its massive arms. With such a long neck and jaws it would make sense for spinosaurus to use them as its primary weapon to catch fish but what were its robust arms used for ?

[@timexyemerald6290]

1 ton fish?

[@peterburridge9346]

Spinosaurus arms are used for high fives😅😅

[@jurawild]

The strong arms could help them maintain balance and navigate its environment, especially in a semi-aquatic habitat, defense and combat

[@Charlie-Charlot]

I just realised that we actually haven’t discovered Spinosaurus arms yet

[@limoucheu8522]

Don't forget the Spinosaurus arms are reconstructed on the base of lesser derived baryonychinae. We d'ont have Spinosaurus arms.

[@georget4141]

wow. this is mind blowing. finally it all makes sense . this is the missing puzzle piece

[@charlesmartinez5869]

Lets get ready to rumble!

[@matthewdavies2057]

With that huge sail and those strangler hands there's something basic we're missing.

[@RaptorChatter]

Describing them as strangler hands upsets me

[@limoucheu8522]

You don't talk about an interesting fact about Baryonychine teeth they have serrations! It could explain their cutting power (Baryonychinae have really small serrations (7 per mm) and they seem's to be clearly "en route" to loose them completely). In derived spinosaurine they loose completely serrations and have more adapted smooth teeth (with some ridges as most aquatic predators) They could be include in the "pierce and smash" guild according Motani . Don't forget to mention if Spinosaurids goes to land they compete with considerably dangerous gigantic Carcharodontosaurids and Bahariasaurus what seems to be the top land predators of Baharia Oasis (we have a non published vertebra of Morroco with the neural spine cut in half probably bitten by Carcharodontosaurus). I d'ont understand why it is so difficult for certain to admit that the spinosaurinae were mostly fishes eaters, and when we talk about fishes of these period they were also gigantic. Onchopristis reach up to 5 meters, some Coelacanthids goes up to 4 meters. They were fantastic preys for these fantastic specialist. There is only one reason because we have three top predators in Baharia, these three guys have their own ecological niche, Carcha and Baharia on land and Spinosaurinae in the water.

[@rileyernst9086]

Well I would think that spinos were probably eating giant sawfish, and Mawsonia which could get to like 6m. So being able to take relatively large, struggling and armoured prey is what you should expect to see in them. And they seem to have the hardware to take these kinds of prey.

[@nuniyoa]

oh god

[@nyeti7759]

There's no escape from spinosaur arguments. But Ezekiel is level-headed enough to handle it 😁

[@clintparsons3989]

If they were mostly fish eaters, would they be aggressive toward a human like an alligator or ignore them like a gavial/garial?

[@RaptorChatter]

At that size there's no reason to think they wouldn't have taken a free meal if the opportunity arose. Smaller dinosaurs or crocodiles would have absolutely been on the menu.

[@paolopasaol9700]

I can imagine Spinosaurus using its claws to pry open an already-dead dinosaur to access the soft internal organs. Perhaps it may have even been able to kill medium-sized prey by holding with its jaws to slash repeatedly with its claws.

[@aliakbarmaliki3156]

With how its forelimbs are positioned, I don't think they can do "slashing", more like hooking their prey

[@paolopasaol9700]

@@aliakbarmaliki3156 I meant in a way similar to the Snapping turtle when hunting prey bigger than a small fish. I recall them holding poor ducklings in their jaws and then pulling them apart with their claws. I reckon even with the limited mobility, Spino can still sink its claws good enough to do damage to medium-sized prey that isn't fish. Edit: I forgot, they can take advantage of their watery terrain and drown prey.

[@aliakbarmaliki3156]

@@paolopasaol9700 drown prey in watery terrain? If you mean like crocodilians would, then I'd heavily disagree because they have a very different anatomy. For example, the Spinosaurus' body is more laterally-compressed while crocodilians like crocs and gators are in contrast, dorsoventrally compressed. Crocs and gators also have a rather thick muscular neck, while Spino has a long flexible one, not great for dragging large prey if they attempt to drown one like crocs would. Their jaws are also resembling that of Pike Conger Eel, which mostly eat relatively small prey rather than crocodilians' jaw, which is broader and more robustly built adapted for a strong grip and crushing bones. Spinosaurus' nostrils are centered near the orbit, while crocs' nostrils are centered around their rossete or "buldge". If anything, they are polar opposites, suggesting an entirely different hunting style

[@paolopasaol9700]

@@aliakbarmaliki3156 I was imagining more like a Kangaroo drowning a dog type. Although I'm not trying to claim that Spino has the instinct to do that but maybe in a struggle it'd unintentionally drown its prey in shallow water.

[@aliakbarmaliki3156]

@@paolopasaol9700 hmm, that's a pretty cool perspective, tbh. I think it's plausible but still, we don't have enough evidence yet to support this kind of style. Maybe in the future we will, hopefully

[@maozilla9149]

nice

[@cw7429]

Dang nature you scary

[@kaelhooten8468]

Most raptors eat small prey compared to their body size, outside of a few specialists.

[@42ZaphodB42]

Cant compare raptors with spinosaurids.