Name: Bizarre Spinosaurus makes history as first known swimming dinosaur
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Bizarre Spinosaurus makes history as first known swimming dinosaur

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Two Spinosaurus aegyptiacus hunt Onchopristis, a prehistoric sawfish,in the waters of a vast river system that once covered Morocco more than95 million years ago. Newfound fossils demonstrate that the dinosaur'stail was well suited for swimming—bolstering the case that Spinosaurusspent much of its time in the water.April 29, 2020At the end of a dim hallway in Casablanca’s Université Hassan II, I’vewalked into a dusty room containing a remarkable set of fossils—bones thatraise foundational questions about ,one of the weirdest dinosaurs ever discovered.Longer than an adult Tyrannosaurus rex, the 50-foot-long, hada large sail on its back and an elongated snout that resembled the mawof a crocodile, bristling with conical teeth. For decades, reconstructionsof its bulky body have ended in a long, narrowing tail like the ones onits many theropod cousins.The red-brown remains laid before me are altering that picture. Thesebones assemble into a mostly complete tail, the first yet found for Spinosaurus.It’s so large, five tables are required to support its full length, andto my shock, the appendage resembles a giant bony paddle.Described , thistail is the most extreme aquatic adaptation ever seen in a large dinosaur.Its discovery in Morocco stretches our understanding of how one of Earth’smost dominant groups of land animals lived and thrived.Delicate struts nearly two feet long jut from many of the vertebrae that make up the tail, giving it the profile of an oar. By the end of the tail, the bony bumps that help adjacent vertebrae interlock practically disappear, letting the tail’s tip undulate back and forth in a way that would propel the animal through water. The adaptation probably helped it move through the vast river ecosystem itYou are going to nationalgeographic.com/tv and different terms of useand privacy policy will apply.Copyright © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society.Copyright © 2015-2022 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reservedforfull access to read stories from National Geographic.

Two Spinosaurus aegyptiacus hunt Onchopristis, a prehistoric sawfish,in the waters of a vast river system that once covered Morocco more than95 million years ago. Newfound fossils demonstrate that the dinosaur'stail was well suited for swimming—bolstering the case that Spinosaurusspent much of its time in the water.April 29, 2020At the end of a dim hallway in Casablanca’s Université Hassan II, I’vewalked into a dusty room containing a remarkable set of fossils—bones thatraise foundational questions about ,one of the weirdest dinosaurs ever discovered.Longer than an adult Tyrannosaurus rex,...

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Science journalist/consultant + freelance correspondent  @NewsfromScience . Bylines  @washingtonpost   @techreview  and elsewhere. Former  @NatGeo  staff writer.

Michael Greshko

Taking our understanding and awareness of the world further for more than 135 years

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Bizarre Spinosaurus makes history as first known swimming dinosaur

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