Was Spinosaurus A Swimming Dinosaur?

[@BenGThomas]

To get your own scientifically accurate (as far as we know) plushie of Spinosaurus, pre-order the adorable Swimbo the Spinosaurus here!: plushfoundry.com/products/spinosaurus-by-ben-g-thomas

[@Redbeardblondie]

Imho, a Spino could have waded into a river, settled down into a rough C-shape open to the faster water, and waited with its snout tip in the water. The sailed back and tail would shade the water, and the body would’ve created a pocket of still, sheltered water. That would attract fish that the spino could then detect and snap up with little to no effort.

[@vinny184]

⁠@@Redbeardblondie it lived in a delta, basically a large wetland where water flow is slow and the river’s width greatly expanded. I highly doubt it hunted that way. IMO it’s more likely it waited in relatively shallow water (this animal was massive) held its head out of the water and relied on eyesight to detect the shadows of larger fish, which it then quickly grabbed.

[@DreadEnder]

HHHHHHUUUUUHHHHH!!!!!!! YYYYEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!

[@captainanopheles4307]

Was there enough prey in shallow water for such a huge organism? Seems a question not often asked.

[@DreadEnder]

@ yes there was. There was a massive abundance of aquatic fauna including over 50 species of fish many of which were giant, such as a 6m coelacanth, sturgeons and catfish. And the 8m sawfish, oncopristis, a barn of which was found in the jaw of the holotype spinosaurus.

[@carlboda3725]

Going by this my theory of Spinosaurus using its sail to charge up a mouth laser may prove to be the most accurate depiction of the animal so far

[@connormcginnis8420]

Google 'Shockwave Spinosaurus'. Not too far off.

[@ecurewitz]

Spinosaurus with freaking lasers on their heads

[@cedley1969]

Your comment gave me an insight into the fact that spinosaurus was partially endothermic and used the sail to heat itself whilst being submerged other than said sail which charged up it's ability to react faster. I've left a broader comment in the forum. Thanks.

[@fabricreative1930]

Spinozilla

[@MileHiGuy95]

Solar beam

[@aadithyanjr1382]

Whoever invents the time machine, their first task is to settle the spinosaurus debate once and for all

[@BenGThomas]

I volunteer to go 🙋‍♂

[@DryptosaurusDavid]

@@BenGThomasTAKE ME WITH YOU!

[@qnebra]

Only to discover Spinousaurus looks and behave different every time you blink

[@peabrain6872]

@@qnebrathe spinosaurus behave differently when observed

[@matthewdrum2961]

​@@BenGThomastake me too

[@urseliusurgel4365]

Polar bears, if you looked at their skeletons would appear to be essentially terrestrial, but they are documented as being capable of hunting underwater. Given the range of aquatic specialisations seen in spinosaur fossilised skeletal elements, it seems highly unlikely that they were incapable of subaquatic hunting. I suspect that they utilised a variety of hunting methods.

[@timexyemerald6290]

These scientists just want ultimatum. Not the both senaria😅

[@Connection_Error-px7bn]

This is similar to what I've been thinking recently, which is quite simply, why not both? Considering it was such a large animal living in such close proximity to large bodies of water and rivers, the ability to swim - even if at rather slow speeds at the water's surface - could very well have been beneficial for traversal between hunting spots, rest stops and the like, while a Heron-like method could be employed when feeding. The problem that I've seen seems to be that evolution is so often driven by food that other pathways to certain adaptations can be forgotten in the process of understanding why they are present.

[@DryptosaurusDavid]

@@Connection_Error-px7bnexactly. I’m surprised no one has suggested in a paper both wading and diving.

[@zJoriz]

Yup, I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle too. When hunting or walking/swimming around, an animal will use its limbs and tail in any method that yields it the most results with the lowest energy expenditure. Maybe a spinosaur will stand like a heron next to shallow water, allowing it to see what's going on above the water -- such as competing spinosaurs or other large predators it needs to be aware of. And when it meets a large body of water with plenty of food, it perhaps goes croc mode for a while. I do agree with team Heron that its relatively tall body cross section seems to suggest it was good at walking, so I doubt it needed its front limbs for that.

[@windhelmguard5295]

here is my analogy: show somebody who does NOT already know the answer a hippo skeleton and a rhino skeleton and ask them which is the aquatic animal and they are going to struggle to give you a straight answer. the skeleton does not tell you shit about buoyancy, it's all about muscle mass percentage, you can see this even in humans, a small change in muscle percentage can change a human from floating on water to sinking if they're not fighting it. and even if spinosaurus was naturally buoyant, so what? sea birds can dive, waterfowl can dive, and of course humans can dive and we are not even aquatic animals, we just figured out how to do it despite the fact that we are in no way suited to that lifestyle because we like pearls and shellfish. the whole stability argument also holds little water (pun intended) humans aren't stable in the water either (our torso area is more buoyant than our heads are) but we've figured it out. not even like being stable in the water matters at all when you're diving, all you need is to be able to know where is up (which is EASIER when you're naturally buoyant) and a way to get back there.

[@fastrockproductions9788]

The running gag among palentology content creators to never want to discuss spinosaurus to avoid getting lots of angry comments is something that always humors and disappoints me

[@--Paws--]

It has become the "mitochondria" of paleontology.

[@d012k-n5t]

Spinosaurus becomes Spinozilla in the year 2055 be like....

[@patreekotime4578]

It annoys me because this is science at work and it is an excellent opportunity to educate the public about the process of scientific discourse. It shows the public that scientists arnt just following the results of one study blindly and that these "heated" debates are crucial for understanding and consensus. Why complain about the process??? It's also just incredibly disengenous because controversial topics drive views and drive engagement. They can *say* they dont like arguments in the comments, but those arguments directly drive the spread of thier videos. So... 🙄

[@benjaminacuna8013]

Ironically even angry comments are good for engagement for it’s best to give in to such content

[@2M3TAL4U]

ThErE wAs A nEw ArTiSts DeScRiPtIoN 8 hours AgO!!

[@derekk8523]

Hear me out. Spinosaurus was an ant eater. Hated water. And the big sail on its back was for gliding. Yes it could fly. It would turn sideways in the wind. Might have had lasers on it’s head

[@mitcharcher7528]

Might???

[@rhetorical1488]

well now we have to debate what color the laser was.

[@BenGThomas]

I think you've figured it out!!

[@matthewdrum2961]

This is obviously an example of convergent evolution with laser headed sharks. And the lasers are red of course. They channel the dark side of the force

[@derekk8523]

@ when something works nature copies it. Laser beams don’t fossilize well

[@macgonzo]

I think this whole thing would make for a great sitcom. Imagine, 4 paleontologists sharing a flat (apartment) and they constantly argue about spino, one uping each other in every episode.

[@charoleawood]

four boneheads...

[@sKup710]

Big bang spinory

[@bonbonnom30]

Would be a great youtube series

[@gaylereid8264]

WOW!!! I’d mos def watch that!!! I,too, think there should be a Paleontologist Stand Up Comedy venue. Each comedian could dress as their fave dino & do bits on the joys & sorrows of their lives !!! Ben G has the best comments!!! So many intelligent jokes !!!

[@FlubberFrosch]

​@@sKup710Big Spine Theory

[@snowleopardSH]

Dr. Nizar can't catch a break, I got to interview him for my dissertation a couple of weeks ago, hes really nice but also very busy. My armchair take on Spinosaurus is that it was probably capable of hunting in both methods, it has a perfect build to sit down in flowing rivers and divert the flow of water to it's front half, any fish looking for food along the riverbanks would be pushed into it's kill zone and grabbed.

[@onba7726]

That sounds brilliant and sensible! I hope people consider it in the future.

[@FlyingFocs]

Nice. I’ve also wondered if it wasn’t a more active aquatic hunter before reaching adult size, wherein it shifted to a more heron style. I don’t know if there’s much basis for this, but it’s my version of finding a midway point

[@DreadEnder]

That’s awesome! I also want to meet them and luckily my local museum is one they commonly work at.

[@caramelpancakes2]

@@FlyingFocs you may be cooking

[@FlyingFocs]

@@caramelpancakes2 oh thank you

[@thatoneweirdbish6364]

I think spino curled up into a wheel shaped and rolled around on its sail to move around. Thats why it's legs are so small, so they can fold under itself to make it a wheel

[@bigfootjustkilledyou]

😂 lmao like the darksouls wheel enemy

[@DOGosaurus_rex]

Spinosaurus had a subterranean life style like a mole.

[@ecognitio9605]

THE UNDERMINER!!!

[@climbscience4813]

Finally! Someone got it right! 👌

[@kristinfrostlazerbeams]

For some reason, I think of a Grizzly Bear as a comparison to the Spino's hunting habits. Grizzlies are heavy, muscular animals who are absolutely fantastic at catching fish. They don't necessarily look like they would be great at watersports since they're bulky and muscular, but they are. They can swim well enough and dive to catch Salmon during the spawning season. They have bodies more adjusted to land travel, but in many areas they have adapted very well to catch most of their caloric intake in the form of fish. Maybe Spino did the same thing, thriving around river rapids but capable of hiking also.

[@angelalewis3645]

🔥

[@steveclapper5424]

The sail would be a real drag in underwater swimming.

[@rodrigopinto6676]

Wrong comparison thw spinosaurus aegyptiacus was very graceful and slender body with very short legs.!!

[@arashiuchiha1591]

Heads up Watersports like that, is implied to be a sex act

[@SpinedLizardLagoon]

For me, I'd like to think of Spinosaurus, given current studies, as an opportunist, and changed up its feeding strategies in occurence with the locale it was residing in at the moment, similarly to how brown bears do when moving from one place to another. Given the adaptations it had for semi-aquatic locomotion, it was capable of diving to hunt for prey, but only if was in an environment where water was deep enough, and there was not more readily accessible prey around. If it found itself on more shallower streams, however, it would opt to being a wader to snatch up prey from the water's edge like a heron. And with a recent study showing that it was also capable of bringing down terrestrial animals, if no aquatic prey was available or became scarce, it could switch to either grabbing up decently sized dinosaurs, or bully other predators off their kills with it's intimidating size and weaponry. So that's my take on Spinosaurus: Depending on whatever situation the animals found themselves in at the time, they would change up tactics in order to survive, whether to dive, wade, hunt or scavenge.

[@ARGAtheropodfan]

I'm so happy Wonder Artistic Models is getting traction! They make breathtaking wooden skeletal models (basically if you took the cheap wooden skeletons from magazines, but then on juice and if they had all the effort put in to make them actually anatomically correct) and are based on my homecountry Chile! I have their Sue T. rex model and I absolutely love it. Can't wait to order more of their stuff!

[@WonderArtisticModels]

Hello! Thank you so much for your comment! We are glad that you are enjoying your T. rex model 😁👍 BTW, we love your artwork too 🤩

[@angelalewis3645]

Thank you for sharing the company with us!

[@d012k-n5t]

Spinosaurus is having a never-ending identity crisis

[@generalspitfire01]

I'm worried about the next paper on Spinosaurus

[@laurachapple6795]

This video was obviously made purely to show off Ben's impressive spinosaurus collection.

[@chheinrich8486]

I personally think the tail was just their so spinosaurus could swim around, not dive or hunt, better in its watery environment, pretty handy if you live in a big river system biom like the kemkem or modern day Amazon

[@guillaumebabey4484]

I personally coined the term "Crisis on Infinite Spinosaurus" to describe the many contradicting hypotheses regarding poor ol' speen back in 2014 with Ibrahim's first reconstruction.

[@angelalewis3645]

😂. I love this!

[@thelittleal1212]

I said it once before and I say it again, if it wasn’t a swimmer, it would still definitely have spend around very deep-shallow waters (2-4 meters) were it would still stand but still very submerged(far from the shoreline). Since being a Giant predator, it would likely had hunted bigger pray like Sawfish, which do hang around in shallower waters, but still far from the shoreline. being thin and streamline would also helped in walk through deeper waters and it’s paddle like tail May even helped it for tight turns. But that’s just my hypothesis

[@dankykongmax2786]

I shall christen your hypothesis "the murder hippo hypothesis".

[@JohnyG29]

I think the massive rigid sail would have prevented it turning around quickly.

[@thelittleal1212]

@@JohnyG29 when I’m saying “mostly submerged”, I referred to most of the back, not necessarily the Enormous sail.

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

Spinosaurus lived in a vast shallow sea 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊. So shallow water includes the open ocean.

[@Thechezbailey]

That scenario might explain the sail if it had a temperature-regulation function, since it presumably didn't have blubber and spent significant amounts of time partially submerged. Maybe the sail could allow it to spend more time hunting mostly submerged by catching sunlight and warming the rest of its body.

[@punwassibridgemohansinghla3825]

I like to imagine that all of the researchers are in on how roundabout this all is, but they all mutually agree to do it anyway as some kind of means of securing funds for their own projects

[@thekaxmax]

Except a lot of these papers are from people who don't have to survive on grants

[@loganlogon3720]

Isn't it possible that, now hear me out, they may have been doing a bit of both? Is it also possible that different age groups were hunting different things? I think it was said a while back that it was thought that some relative of tyrannosaurus was doing that to prevent the different growth stages from competing for the same prey. The other possibility is that Spinosaurus was renting out it's sail as a billboard for dino businesses, possibly employing the same color changing strategy as chameleons to change between multiple ads, further increasing their annual income, but earning them the nickname "Shillasaurus" amongst other species.

[@crissagram]

"Baby, wake up. New Spinosaurus Lore just dropped."

[@shanerooney7288]

Spinosaurus is my favourite arboreal dinosaur.

[@trichogaster1183]

clearly the sail developed as a dish to receive alien TV series such as "The Great Gooberman" and "Space Is Funky"

[@akiraasmr3002]

Swimbo looks suspiciously similar to a mix of Totodile & Croconaw. 😂 but I still love it haha!!

[@lyricusthelame9395]

I have no qualifications, but personally I don't buy the 'tail was a display structure' hypothesis. Any time paleontologists can't explain why an animal has a feature they just say "idk, it was used for display or something", but such a tail has an extremely obvious practical use. I can see the spine on its back being used as a display structure, but the fact that no other theropod (to my knowledge) had a tail like spinosaurus is very suspect. If other indisputably terrestrial dinosaurs had a similar tail I may have believed it.

[@lolidemon3163]

Nature is weird sometimes

[@FragulumFaustum]

Not to mention that "display structure, next question" is usually used as an argument against some other usage, as if a body part can't be used for more than one thing...

[@tracewyrm]

My personal favorite interpretation is somewhere in the middle. I can't imagine a Spinosaurus pursuiting fish by swimming in deep water, but I could totally see it being kind of like a hippo. Not exactly good at swimming, but still submerging itself in shallow water from time to time and pushing itself towards prey by walking/"running" across the river floor (as close as Spinosaurus could get to running, anyway). I still think it would mostly wade across the shore, but diving to get a better chance at catching fish doesn't seem out of the picture. It's obviously more of a hunch than anything, but its just what seems most intuitive to me, given what we know about the animal.

[@DEMcouver]

I was going to say this, but depends on very low buoyancy and so how the buoyancy question pans out.

[@mrapistevist]

Hippos are mentioned in other comments. They have very dense bones and cannot swim. They spend most of their time in water yet eat grass.

[@cedley1969]

If spinosaurus was fully aquatic and partially endothermic the sail could have absorbed heat allowing it to maintain body temperature for longer while floating in water that would have otherwise been too cold extending the amount of time it could hunt every day. The sail absorbing heat from sunlight before the water it was in had heated up sufficiently to otherwise allow it to hunt. Edit, imagine it lying fully submerged apart from it's dark sail supply warm blood as it floated in wait of the sawfish below, as the day heated up it would turn away from the sun to regulate it's temperature accordingly.

[@patreekotime4578]

Even if it's not submerged, just standing in water all day will suck the heat out of your body. And not moving very much means it isnt keeping its body warm through walking or running.

[@AnnaKuznetzova88]

but he goes extinct when this area floods. dont think he was so suited for aquatic life as some think

[@benjaminthomasson]

Cormorant vs heron.

[@charlesmartin1121]

Definitely Cormorant. The Heron analogy is all wrong for Spinosaurus, given the rearward location of it's center of mass. Although the Heron analogy might work for less derived Spinosaurs.

[@SmashBrosAssemble]

One thing you can say about Spinosaurus, it’s one of the few Dinosaurs that’s had such radically different makeovers since it’s discovery. Regardless of what form it takes or how it’s portrayed whether it’s; A generic Carnosaur with a big sail A roided up Baryonyx terrorising Isla Sorna Battling alongside a Tyrannosaurus & Saichania Running rampant on the streets of Dublin Swimming like a monster Heron in Morocco Next to Tyrannosaurus, it’s one of the most famous megatheropods there is.

[@dragonlord8525]

Oh ik the trex and saichania reference

[@thepaintingbanjo8894]

Never change, Spinosaurus..... Oh wait, that's a poor choice of words.

[@JCdragon7]

Honestly, I think a hardline between wading or swimming is reductive. It could've been a wading/ambush predator that would swim about to different locations to hunt.

[@nyalan8385]

Yeah most of the discourse is based around how spinosaurus hunted but like, hunting is only one part of a predator. This was a large dinosaur that likely had a large territory it needed to patrol, and would probably move to various hunting grounds within it. Living in an aquatic mosaic with big rivers, small rivers, shallow pools, lakes, and a mixture of marshy and dry terrain, a lot of spinosaurus’s weird adaptations may be simply for locomotion in a complex terrain with a wide prey variety

[@AnonymousTranquility]

And this is why spinosaurus is my number one favorite dinosaur. All because of how weird it continues to be

[@primalfiregodzilla5052]

Same, it stays my favorite no matter how much it changes, because it’s so weird

[@cthulhufhtagn2483]

Honestly, I feel like a primarily aquatic hunter is most likely for it. My reasoning: 1. It has a giant paddle tail. Yes, it _could_ be a display structure, but structures like that on newts and lizards don't have bones to them, because they're explicitly not meant to be used. Now, obviously Spinosaurus is a little bigger than those animals, but I think it'd be worth doing a study on the tail spines to see whether they would have experienced stress from swimming in life or not. 2. It has stumpy little legs. Wading hunters like to be _tall,_ so that they can wade in deeper water, as well as casting minimal shadow and preventing their prey from seeing them. Modern storks and herons are tall, as are azhdarchid pterosaurs (while they weren't waders, they still had a stork-like lifestyle), and most spinosaurids fall into this category, up to and including Spinosaurus's closest relatives. Spinosaurus itself, however, doesn't, which indicates to me that it had a different lifestyle. Heck, Spinosaurus's legs are flat-out _shorter_ than those of Suchomimus, which indicates it actively _evolved_ for them to be smaller, something a wader would not do. 3. Its evolutionary history. While I haven't done much research and only have a layperson's knowledge of such things, spinosaurs seem to me to show a trend towards an aquatic lifestyle. Compare a creature like Irritator (smaller body, little to no sail, long legs, tapered tail) to a creature like Suchomimus (much larger body, sail along the back, broader tail). I don't know if there are studies done on Suchomimus's or Ichthyovenator's lifestyles, but I wouldn't be surprised if they proved to be fairly aquatic hunters, perhaps preferring to wade on the shoreline and dive after larger prey. That also seems to track with the fish evolving around them - again, I don't know of any kind of study, but the fish of the Kem Kem Beds are _immense,_ and the only fit for apex predator of that ecosystem is Spinosaurus. While some of those fish would have likely come near the shore, many of them would have simply been too big to commonly live at the depths Spinosaurus could comfortably wade to. In fact, I posit that against the idea that secondarily aquatic large-bodied animals are typically marine - Spinosaurus lived in a very deep, ecologically rich river system, which formed a relatively constricted environment. Given that it seems to have no preference for moving out to sea, I posit that Spinosaurus's size and hyper-specialization are a sort of "island" gigantism, where the "island" is the river system it was limited to, as well as being the end result of an arms race with large-bodied freshwater fish. 4. Didn't I hear somewhere that isotope studies done on the bones show that they spent a good deal of time submerged? While I'm no expert on how isotopes work, if _all_ the bones show that, then surely that means it must have spent time with most of its body underwater. If, on the other hand, the lower leg bones show that, whereas the tips of the neural spines don't, it seems much more likely to have been a wader than a pursuit predator.

[@Shabanezloth]

That sail was obviously poorly reconstructed. It should look like helicopter rotor blades.

[@mothtree7730]

I wonder if it was semi-aquatic if it would have occasionally hunted in tide pools. I don’t really have much of a reason to think they would do that but the idea of that ever being a thing seems cool to me.

[@ProcyonDei]

I misread tide pools as "Tide Pods" and now I'm just imagining tiny Spinosauruses swimming in detergent...

[@dionettaeon]

Considering Spino's bone density, I'd think it be far easier for it to be able to dive underwater or be partially submerged rather than floating on the surface; it's not exactly a sailboat here.

[@Wyrm1701]

One way out of the conundrum is to work out what sort of river the mega-heron would have found most conducive to its lifestyle. I would hypothesise that the sail-backed spinosaurs lived in rivers which had fewer good fishing spots (which would need to be defended) and the plainer non sail-backed morphs would have lived in habitats more suited to their way of life. I would also hypothesise that these animals were feasting in epic fashion at some times of year and were barely ticking over at other times, therefore the bones will more resemble those of a large poikilothermic crocodile than the bones of a similarly sized predatory therapod.

[@Zelgeist]

I do think of Spinosaurus as a waiting predator, whose better-than-average swimming abillity (as far as theropods are concenrned) enabled it to more asily move from one hunting spot to the other.

[@iainmc9859]

Let me simplify - No it isn't - Yes it is -No it isn't - Yes it is - No it isn't - Yes it is -isn't - is - isn't - is - you don't know anything - more than you ! Nice to see that even scientists come down to the KZbin level of debate we all enjoy ....

[@a5cent]

The difference being they argue based on evidence. They just weigh the clues differently. Average Joe on YT has nothing but whatever they pulled out of their rear orifice.

[@destructodude]

I appreciated that Swimbo is colored the same as Totodile.

[@Deka-Kaizer]

I once heard that Spinosaur would most likely float in the water too. That got me thinking that it might act much like a duck or goose, but with actual teeth and claws. Later on, I even have a theory that Spinosaur might actually look like a Muscovy duck too.

[@Phantom-bh5ru]

Why in the world would spino have super dense bones only seen in aquatic animals if it could not be aquatic 💀

[@ecurewitz]

Turns out Spinosaurus was really a mid Cretaceous street performing dinosaur

[@br.j9145]

ok - I like this one better than my theory of it being a professional gambler

[@danielhavens8819]

at this point I wouldn't be surprised if we found a perfectly preserved spinosaurus unambiguously riding a motorcycle

[@jasontusmc]

I think of spinosaurus like a swan, semi floating from one spot to the next to hunt like a heron

[@JohnSmith-jj2yd]

It's just a big bear... Not like a grizzly bear, but a teddy bear; he just wants a hug!

[@br.j9145]

nice

[@Goodguybce]

I don’t think the two ideas are mutually exclusive, I think it likely would stalk the water edge like a Heron but was also capable of then diving to chase prey when needed.

[@EyeKahnography]

Found your channel while playing ARK one afternoon. Appreciate you keeping learning a fascinating experience. Swimbo is amazing

[@ltlbuddha]

The Great Spinosaurus War...aka Nerd Fight!

[@thewoollyviking5928]

I used to be pretty hardcore on the side of Spino being very much a croc mimic but given the scrutiny that the hypothesis has been under I can’t really make a strong argument to back it. Alternatively, I think it’s honestly really fascinating to imagine these Rex-sized mega theropods lazily floating along the shallow waters of a mangrove swamp, their spines and heads poking up from the water before reaching down to catch fish. It feels so much more different from the bloodthirsty Tyrannosaur killer of jp3

[@DJFracus]

spinosaurus sail would be very bad for hiding in the water as an ambush predator like a croc does

[@yissibiiyte]

We know for a fact that spino ate onchopristis, a giant 4m fish. Such a fish wouldn't even be able to fit in water that was shallow enough for spino to wade in. The only way it could catch them was by being an active swimmer or diver.

[@dankykongmax2786]

Maybe they were scavenging dead ones on shore? (i'm playing devils advocate here)

[@JohnyG29]

I disagree, many large fish inhabit very shallow waters, and modern day sawfish live in esturaies and rivers.

[@yissibiiyte]

@dankykongmax2786 statistically, we should assume that what we find in it's stomach was a natural part of its diet. Sure it's possible that it was a one-off or scavenging event, but the chances of that being fossilized is extremely low.

[@yissibiiyte]

@JohnyG29 can you give any examples of a 4 metre long fish inhabiting water that's only 2 metres deep? Additionally onchopristis was not related to sawfish, so any comparisons made are tentative.

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

They could have jumped up and down with little swimming like hippos 🦛. The habitat of Spinosaurus was a vast shallow sea 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊. So shallow water includes the open ocean.

[@Red-EyedWanderer]

What is no one ever talk about a Spinosaurus behaving like an orinoco crocodile

[@JohnyG29]

If it didn't have a MASSIVE sail, I could believe it might be fully aquatic. However, considering how un-hydrodynamic the sail is and how it significantly elevates the creature's centre of gravity (making it liable to flip onto its back), I think it can only be reasonably considered that Spinosaurus had a more "heron" style of hunting strategy. Of course, we are unlikely to ever know for sure.

[@adhdlama2403]

Yeah it's not going underwater with that sail. Imagine trying to catch a fish, swimming underwater with that. A huge issue.

[@Carlos-bz5oo]

Proponents of subaquaeous feeding suggest Spinosaur was an ambush predator, so it didn't need to swim fast with that thing. Plus, aquatic organisms tend to develop dorsal fins to prevent spinning

[@adhdlama2403]

@@Carlos-bz5oo Cool. I can certainly believe that. If it did have a padded tail then it must have spent time in the water.

[@bruhb7611]

@@Carlos-bz5ooyeah but all those animals have dorsal fins that are flexible and can stand up and down at will. Not a hard immobile bone spine.

[@mb8787]

I started wonder while watching this, if the sail was a useful signal to other big (semi-)terrestrial predators to stay away from where a spinosaurus was halfway under water, so as to not disturb the waters that had to stay undisturbed for a huge spinosaurus to have a chance at a meal... crocs hide very well in water, but they are also out for terrestrial animals, while spinosaurus may have relied more on fish and other water creatures, and thus maybe did not benefit from being accidentally overrun while submerged, especially by big predators it could not take down. At the same time, it may have been big enough to be pretty inconspicuous to passing prey in the water, especially if camouflage-colored...

[@mokuroh14]

Swimbo reminds me of one of my favourite Pokemon, Totodile. They're both precious

[@trollwar3256]

Personally i think its very plausable that spinosaures sort of was a in-between in feeding methods i would guess that it mostly lived like a herring due to the skull and location of nasal passages but it could probably also swim and dive maybe it wasnt the best swimmer but it probably could forage and catch fish in a more opportunistic way when swimming to new locations or moving around also its very possibly that age played a part in how they hunted juveniles could've spent for time in the water but adults probably were more suited to the herring lifestyle

[@wolfgangwolves3544]

Personally I have to be on team diver I can't see how an animal that huge is expected to just stand around waiting for fish all day

[@c.r.blankenship9040]

I’m really surprised that nobody has done a study comparing Spinosaurus to a duck. Just looking at such an animal that’s got short legs but is still bipedal, if you compare it to a duck it’s not all that different. Obviously this is just my own observation and not based on direct comparisons of center of gravity, etc - I’ll leave that to the people who know what they’re doing - but if I were to guess I’d say that it probably swam and dove like a duck does, only it would be going after fish instead of pond plants. I call this the Murder Duck Hypothesis.

[@weemanprehistory101]

I'm Team Duck, aka surface swimmer. I don't think they were Team Gator (underwater swimmer) based on the evidence of some of those recent studies like they're computer models. But I don't think they were Team Heron (wader) either based on how short those hind legs are. Waders tend to have long hind legs so that they can step into deeper waters without having to swim, and yet Spinosaurus had proportionally short legs. It's not going to step into very deep of water to catch big fish, and we know they went after large fish. Therefore, I think they swam on the surface. Not quickly mind you. They would swim slowly along the surface -like a duck- and that big sail would act as bait. On the side facing away from the sun, it would produce a shadow to lure in prey, and on the side facing the sun, a bright display that too would lure prey. The fish would approach, and with their highly sensitive nose dipping in the water, Spinosaurus would lunge at the fish that would swim close enough towards them.

[@hibernopithecus7500]

I have two hypotheses on Spinosaurus; 1. The heavy bones were for ballast. It’s claws simply to gain traction in riverbeds of fast flowing rivers. It’s sail both a radiator to keep it warm as it stood for prolonged periods in cold water & shade to attract fishes, as some Stork do. Its tail assisted in readjusting its position in the river but was not primary locomotion. 2. Given how unique it is compared to anything else that existed before, during or since, the data is being drastically misinterpreted.

[@ThisHandleIsDefinatelyTaken]

spinosaurus's ecologic niche exists in a hyperposition that alters depending on the specific instance of observation

[@susansokoloski2233]

Oh geez, you actually took this vipers nest on! Good for you! 👏👏👏🦖

[@evajulia2121]

Ahhh, yes. The monthly fight about spinosaurus 🍿

[@betofernandez5524]

All the species in this family have at least few adaptations for semiacuatic life or close to water life to hunt. Spinosaurus is the one with more adaptations to acuatic environment, so it's weird to have some scientist saying that it was not capable to dive, or it would be a bad swimmer? All in it's morphologic peculiarities looks designed for that purpose. Way more elongated body than other spinosauroids. Hind legs dramatically reduced making it very slow and graceless on land, but making it more hidrodynamic. The tail and the sail does not make any sense on land, and you don't see those features in Baryonychinae which had common terophod proportions. Why and apex predator evolved that way?? Well, obviously evolution takes time, and Spinosaurus' tail was not as efficient as fully aquatic crocodilians for example, but that cannot be a reason for a new debate. Was spinosaurus acuatic or at least semiacuatic? YES. Was a good swimmer? YES. And comparing to fully acuatic reptiles? NO. It seems like if they would have another 5-10 millions years to develop that body, they could have ended being fully acuatic. Idk but that's what common sense says to me. If it was not aquatic, Spino did all the changes wrong for a terrestrial life then... XD

[@Bearyboo87]

It's probably an intermediary, evolving from a Heron like lifestyle to full aquatic pursuit, likely doing a bit of both. They're never going to be the end of the argument because it's the dinosaur equivalent of a flipping platypus, "It has milk and lays eggs! Impossible!"

[@Eucep]

I think it likely for the Spino to have been a herron like hunter, but I also pose another option: Ambush hunter. Which sounds odd with the fin, unless said fin is part of the disguise. I think it may have been able to lay down like a log (or like a crocodillian), it's fin maybe looking like plants, creating shade and maybe even the tail possibly being a lure if not part of said foliage disguise. The fin creating shade would potentially lure in fish and the tail if flexible enough being used to obscure the hunter's head.

[@erlectric]

happened to watch David Hone presentation on Spinosaurus just recently, good timing :D

[@MxlexywithaY]

Team burrower, the spines were able to be plucked out and used as handy shovels

[@thenerdbeast7375]

I think people are too focused on the dichotomy of wader vs swimmer, they only focus on herons and crocodiles forgetting that bears exist. Bears during salmon runs do a bit of a middle ground of not just swiping fish out of the water but also lunging their full bodies in to grab fish. I think this is how Spinosaurus hunted, using its large mass to better dive than dedicated waders like Suchomimus but not being entirely dedicated to pursuit swimming like crocodilians. Combine this with the fact that Spinosaurus likely specialized in larger, less agile fish like Onchopristis and it was likely more successful as a full body lunger with active swimming when needed.

[@haroldhahn7044]

Ben, the sail would have cast a shadow that would have made it possible to see fish without a reflection getting in the way. The tail could have been used in a stream, as a fishing weir to direct migrating fish into the shadow of the sail, and into range of the jaws.

[@dankykongmax2786]

There is a popular hypothesis within the paleontology communities on Reddit that states that spinosaurus wasn't a wader or a diver, but instead hunted like an Orinoco crocodile; floating over the water's surface before lunging at prey swimming below it, but not flat-out diving underwater rapidly or corralling shoals of fish like a penguin. The evidence is its body shape, which they liken to diving semi-aquatic, ambush-hunting birds like pelicans and petrels, and its skull shape, which is wide at the base and narrow at the tip like an Orinoco crocodile (which also happens to be a proficient hunter of large fish).

[@patreekotime4578]

Spino has a deep, skinny body... which is one of the reasons models had it flopping over instead of floating, so I'm not sure how they drew that parallel. Birds like Pelicans and coromonts have wings they can use to stabilize thier bodies on and in the water, and Crocs especially are wide and flat, which is perfect for floating around.

[@thedoruk6324]

​@@patreekotime4578Also the commentator completely ignores the fact that Orinoco crocodiles *is* a true apex predator thag consumes and hunts a wide variety of prey especially terrestrial ones. Even jagurs avoid them. Something many people defiantly ignore about spinosaurus too

[@bruhb7611]

“Reddit is my source” ah yes very trustworthy

[@c.r.blankenship9040]

@@patreekotime4578could spinosaurus not have stabilized itself with its big-ass arms?

[@c.r.blankenship9040]

@@patreekotime4578the walking posture for spinosaurus does make it look a lot like a duck

[@midwestshoreangler9127]

Currently have 6 of the wonder artistic models kits.

[@tamaltarudey8912]

Spinosaurus: The Gift That keeps giving Questions

[@rachelblake2350]

My boy... stop fighting over my boy...

[@beyondlegacy6314]

they can go in and out like hippos does

[@dankykongmax2786]

As unsatisfying as it may seem, the scientific community has and will continue to fight over your boy. Is it not the nature of science to perpetually challenge itself in the quest to understand the universe and its contents? I'm sorry, but you, I, or anyone will likely never live to see the end of this, if there even is an end, the same way Sir Richard Owen would never guess the terrible reptiles he named so would turn out to be the miraculous, fantastic utterly-alien things we know them as today...

[@michaelreed4744]

It seems that the skeleton is a composite of several individuals. We could compare the fossils with other spinosaur species to understand its structure.

[@literallylazyguitarguy8988]

Does Spinosaurus swim or it doesn't swim? Swimbo had told me everything, Spinosaurus is a butterfly, thus it butters

[@fabricreative1930]

My hypothesis (I'm not an expert so take this with a pile of salt): Spinosaurus couldn't dive, but it could swim and fish at the surface of the water, sort of like dabbling ducks, with its snout, arms, legs and tail submerged. This would explain both its wading and swimming adaptations. Display features like the sail and the crest would be above the water, which would make it easier for Spinos to recognise each other. A problem with this hypothesis is that, while there was a paper that suggested Spino couldn't dive (as shown in the video), it also suggests it would be unstable while floating.

[@DreadEnder]

I’ve got some photos of the spinosaurid fossils from the Isle of Wight if you want them, there’s riparovenator, ceratosuchops and vectispinus the “white rock spinosaurid”

[@KevNpton]

Now you’ve named the Spinosaurus War, you can name the battles, and the opponents. I suggest, the Aquatics Vs the Terrestrials.

[@tec-jones5445]

My personal hypothesis is that Spinosaurus might have punted/walked along the bottom of water bodies like a hippo. Similar to wading, but fully submerged. Its dense leg bones could stabilize it, and it wouldn't need to go into deep water or dive, but lung from below at prey (terrestrial or aquatic). Its tail might provide just enough power for this, as it's not full swimming.

[@novembermember]

Some animals seem to grow massive when they find great success in a very specific niche. Whatever spinosaurus did in life, it did so in a remarkable, unique fashion that no other animal could match at that location during that period of time. It seems to have found a way to exploit those river systems in some way as to almost guarantee success. Over generations, its prey grew larger, and spinosaurus managed to keep up.

[@TomTurbo-wh6op]

Would not work submerged, as that back sail would work like a keel of a sailing yacht. It would stabilize in forward action, but surpress sideways movement, necessary to follow evading prey. For me, Spinosaurus most likely stood in relatively shallow water and used the pressure sensors in his snout to localize prey. The sail on his back, esp. being stiff, would then most presumingly work as a thermoregulating device, as water, esp. flowing water in rivers, draws away the body heat in no time. And there are no hints to depots of blubber on a Spinosaurus to work as an insulation. The flattend tail instead indicates, that S. was a pretty good swimmer, but surely no underwater pursuit hunter, due to the reasons named above.

[@Graham_Cracker_Crust]

I can vouch for Wonder models, I bought the Quetz and a Parasaurolophus from them and they were great. Great customer service. I did find the Quetz is a little unstable and tough to put together, but the Parasaurolophus was perfect and looks fantastic, so a big recommend from me.

[@baphamette]

i don't think Spinosaurus was speeding after things underwater (too much drag on the sail, tho maybe the juveniles could), but i don't think it was a pure shoreline feeder either, and i think it was a better swimmer than Sereno et al purport to show (i've heard criticisms of their model and they don't take things like gastroliths for ballast into account) it definitely would have waded in shallow water, but i also think it was probably spending some time highly submerged, and this is partly why the Spinosaurinae evolved their sails - even with the body submerged, the sail would have been sticking out of the water, signaling to others of their kind even from far away (whether for group cohesion, scaring off rivals, or attracting mates) this also would have been true for the tail "fin" much of the time, and i do think it was a display feature, but i also think it doubled as a propulsion aid, either while swimming or walking through deep water i think Spinosaurus maybe spent time feeling around along the river bottom from time to time or just prowling around deeper waters for bigger fish and crocs, along with the wader lifestyle and occasionally tackling land prey or bullying other predators off of kills (i think the sail helped a lot there too, in making the animal look even more massive than it already was) either way, more proper research is needed and i'm just some dinosaur fan, and i wish the two teams would work together to hash out their differences in methodology rather than doing this back-and-forth, though i'm sure it's not necessarily that simple

[@rosalinadeanda-zd6nn]

Amazing, I personally think that Spinosaurus aegyptiacus might have had the capacity to pursue prey underwater and wait on the shallow riverbanks for fish to pass by and get snatched. Many animals are capable of doing more than what their anatomies were intended for. Spinosaurus aegyptiacus had the right anatomy to pursue prey, like a paddle-like tail, feet with flat bottoms, possibly the right amount of bone density, etc. But Spinosaurus aegyptiacus also had the right anatomy to wait on the shallow riverbanks to obtain food like sensory pits, possibly the right center of mass, possibly the right amount of bone density, etc. Obviously, some of these pieces of anatomy prove more than just one theory. Those are just my personal thoughts and opinions on this hot topic of debate. Good job, keep up the good work.

[@kevenharvey9711]

It just seems to me like the tail would have needed unusually beefy to counter balance that long body, sail, and massive head. The rear legs would be bearing most of the weight so the front limbs didn't have to adapt much.

[@WildBillCox13]

The Amazon floods every year, creating a watery debris field full of every kind of potential food or prey. The pacu is specialized to exploit this weird seasonal smorgasbord. Spino might be similarly adapted to the murky confusion; able to wade, head down, lower jaw just submerged, or slide along through muddy sumps on its belly.

[@AnimeSunglasses]

At this point I just want to bring popcorn to a lot of Paleontology conferences.

[@karlmark9967]

Spinosaurus don't swim, spinosaurus don't do the other thing too, what they do is, they do their best, and frankly that's all that matters.

[@timbobshe]

Spinosaurus will never be truly understood. You're not alone Spino...me too

[@thatguywesmaranan]

why don't we just ask them?!? oh... right...

[@JG-zs8tr]

I desperately want to see a Royal Rumble style cage match between the warring factions of paleontologists. For science.

[@bedlaskybedla6361]

I am little bit more inclined to underwater predator, let see what future research brings. This spinosaurus problem is somewhat similar to origin of Lissamphibia problem. Everyone argue, where origin of Lissamphibia lies - in Temnospondyli (Dissorophoidea or Dissorophoidea + Stereospondyli), in Lepospondyli or they are polyphyletic, frogs + salamanders originate in Temnospondyli and caecilians originate in Lepospondyli. It would be interesting topic for video.

[@Tyr666Thor]

I think it did a bit of both! Compare it to its reletives like Baryonix which are pure waders and spino obviously has more adaptations for swimming but still a lot of wading adaptations too.

[@amruzaky4939]

Might need to elaborate more on this bone density 10:55 . What data are they using to debunk it? Because I see here that T-rex, eventhough close in size, had far less density. More like Polar Bear, Spino might need to become more opportunistic predator, and has to dive every once in a while if they need to be. Their resources are finite after all. Now, I think about, there is no paper so far explaining the eventual cause of Spino's extinction? The cause of their demise would tell what they lived upon, or the lack of it.

[@rickcrozier928]

Other sea creatures with a sail along the back use it to herd baitfish into an ambush. Eg sailfish

[@mrx4022]

I swear Spinosaurus must be laughing its ass off in Dino heaven at our despair 😂

[@nyeti7759]

Obviously it was a muscular legless swimmer with a trunk like an elephant seal.

[@ordisraru]

I understood that reference!

[@XanderDorn]

Oh for crying out loud! Would someone please finally build a time machine to settle this once and for all?

[@newjojosupercutsandmore2489]

How many times we gotta teach you this lesson young man!