McLaughlin 1
Antonio McLaughlin
Ms.Dalesio
English LA 12200
13 January 2017
The Survival and Extinction of Spinosaurus
The Spinosaurus was one of the biggest carnivores living during the Cretaceous Period. In fact the Spinosaurus was bigger than even the Giganotosaurus ,which in turn was bigger than the Tyrannosaurus. The Spinosaurus was around fifty two to fifty nine feet long and weighed seven to nine tons(Castro,Live Science). The name Spinosaurus means spiny lizard and was given this name due to the seven foot tall spines that grew on it’s back. The spines on the Spino’s back were connected by a layer of skin that scientists believe was used for cooling itself off.
The Spinosaurus lived in North Africa and normally hunted in swamps and
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rivers. The diet of the Spinosaurus mainly consisted of fish, but the Spino would eat just about anything it could catch in its maw. The snout of the spino was long with needlelike and serrated teeth. The nostrils were high on the snout so the spino could dip only the front of it’s snout in the water and wait for prey to swim through. The spino had a hidden feature in it’s snout at the front. There were many small indents on it’s snout and scientists would suggest that these were a form of radar. The spino would wait for a fish to swim by and feel the slight water pressure of the fish swimming. As soon as the fish would get close enough, The spino would clamp its jaws tight on it’s prey. McLaughlin 2 The Spinosaurus’s jaw structure was made for holding on to prey that would otherwise be very difficult to hold. There is a ridge where the teeth are set higher than the others and are pointed to the back of the maw. This made it easy for Spinosaurus to hold slippery fish and other dinosaurs. In battle the spino had mostly better offence than other large dinos. The spinosaurus had long arms unlike the T-Rex with its short stubby arms. At the end of the spino’s arms and fingers there were a set of long claws that could tear right through anything it slashed at. Because the spino had longer arms and claws, any large dino would be grasped by the claws and then the spino would tear at any vital point it could find. Another weapon the spino held was its long muscular tail. The spinos tail was strong enough to break the bones of anything it smacked. Spinosaurus like every animal had a mating season were a male would find a female to lay eggs. The spino had a few ways to bring in the girls, spino had his sail which was colorful and very large. The females would decide a mate by the colorfulness of the sail or how big the mail was compared to the others. The spino also had an ornamental piece on its head that scientists suggested was for attracting mates as well(Enchanted Learning, 2 24 2017). There is little information about the spinosaurus raising its young, but scientists and paleontologists say that the spino would most likely raise its young in the shallow water. Just like most reptiles today, the parent would show the young how to hunt and swim. When big enough the parent would leave the children and continue its regular life habits. The spinosaurus lived in the same type of habitat as the Deltadromeus and the Carcharodontosaurus. These large McLaughlin 3 carnivores had to often challenge each other for their kills. The winner would get the meal and the other would either leave before a fight or get badly injured during the exchange. In the water there was another challenger for territory. The sarcosuchus was a large alligator like amphibious dinosaur. The Spino’s main diet was fish, so in the water the spino was not the only carnivore looking to eat. Because the sarco was in the water the sarco was more maneuverable than the spino. If the sarco could land a bite on the large spino’s sail, the spino could easily die. If the spino would get too deep in the water then the sarco would have a better chance of killing the spino. The sarco would bite down and like modern day crocodiles and alligators initiate a death role. The death role is a move were the sarco would grab its prey and role until its prey is torn apart. One of the most weakest parts of the spino is its large sail.
Because the sail is attached to the spine, if the spino ever gets rolled or damages its sail the spino will die. The bones that were recovered by scientists showed that the spino was in a fight with a large carnivore and the dinosaur bit down and broke part of the spino’s sail. The spino did not die instantly but the wound was the cause of its death. In times of drought the spino would go to land and hunt small to large prey. This is where the fighting over a carcass happens, scientists suggest that this was one of the reasons that the spinosaurus went …show more content…
extinct. The ponds, rivers, and swamps would dry up and the spino would have to move to find more water.
The spino would lose a big part of its normal diet of large fish, and hunt other dinos
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and smaller prey to avoid injury. Sometimes the spino would even find a dead animal and start to eat it. Later on other dinos would catch the scent of the carcass and track it down only to find a large predator (the spino) eating it. If hungry enough a fight would break out between the two predators over the carcass. This leads to injuries which could lead to infection and death. The Spinosaurus was too specialized for swamps and other water based environments. When the water dried up, the spino even with it’s varietal appetite, could not survive long without its correct ecosystem.
The spino could not have simply died like all of the other dios of its era by a big meteore. The spino died out before the rest of the other dinos as paleontologists believe was the result of an extreme drought. Scientists came to this conclusion due to some of the spino’s bones being found in the egyptian desert. The body of the spino was more suited to the conditions of the wetlands. Without these conditions most of it’s body became unnecessary in the new environment it was forced into. The long snout that was used to detect fish in water was not good at smelling the scent of other dinos as well as the other dinos. The bones of the spino were a lot lighter than others as well. This would have caused
many joint and bone problems lugging its ginormous body around. Along with these problems the spino could no longer reproduce as easy as when the original environment suited it’s egg laying. This vastly reduced the number of spinos roaming the earth. If the spino could not reproduce then every spino that died could not be replaced. McLaughlin 5 The bones of this dino are scarce so there is little information to go by. The appearance of the spino changed over many years as more and more pieces of the skeletons were found. The first bones were found in Bahariya Valley, Egypt by a paleontologist named Ernst Stormer in 1995. These bones were later taken to a museum in Munich but ,to the dismay of many paleontologists, the bones were destroyed by allied forces in a bombing run. The largest known fossil found was a near complete upper jaw found by Cristiano Dal Sasso. This fossil was found in Morocco in the year of 2005. More parts were found in the same are by other paleontologists which include hind limb bones, skull fragments, teeth and other sorts from all over the skeleton. These discoveries led to all of the drastic changes to how the Spinosaurus looked and acted in the past. This dino went from looking like it wound walk bipedal to walking on all fours, even doing both. The size of the spino was even changed several times over many years by paleontologists from being 10 meters to 18 meters long as the last change in its size McLaughlin 6 Work Cited Page (http://www.livescience.com/24120-spinosaurus.html) Joseph Castro, March 18 2016 (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/facts/Spinosaurus/) No author, No publisher, febuary 24 2017 (http://www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/spinosaurus.html)Claudia Mann, No publisher, Febuary 24 2017 (https://www.fossilera.com/pages/spinosaurus) No author, Fossilera, Febuary 24 2017 (http://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6204/1613) Semiaquatic Adaptations in a Giant Predatory Dinosaur, Nizar Ibrahim1,*, Paul C. Sereno1, Cristiano Dal Sasso2, Simone Maganuco2, Matteo Fabbri3, David M. Martill4, Samir Zouhri5, Nathan Myhrvold6, Dawid A. Iurino7 September 26 2014
Pachycephalosaurians, thick-skulled dinosaurs such as the Stegoceras and the Pachycephalosaurus. (1) Ceratopsians and Pachycephalosaurs are closely related in their characteristics. Ceratopsians processed a saddle-shaped boney frill that extended from the skull to the neck and typically had horns over the nose and eyes. The most popular was the triceratops, which could reach over 26 feet and weigh in excess of twelve metric tons. Their frills served two major functions.
Reptiles have a low metabolic rate: they consume energy, and therefore oxygen, slowly. According to Robinson (1975), Plesiosauroids were enduring swimmers with lower flipper aspect ratios and drag-causing long necks. Massare (1988) made the same conclusion, since the hydrodynamic properties of the Plesiosauroids indicate the species moved no faster than 2.3 metres every second. Therefore, the species was confronted by a conundrum: it sought to dive hundreds of metres to hunt its prey yet was constrained, by virtue of its body shape, to travel at slow speed. Invariably, the animal would have been required to forgo oxygen for periods of more than a minute, while keeping the presence of mind to hunt.
...ories of why dinosaurs went extinct abound, and as there is no theory yet to be truly confirmed as the “right one”, my theory of dinosaur cannibalism is also purely anecdotal. The discovery of the cannibalistic Majungatholus atopus in Madagascar is an important scientific find because it confirms a long-standing theory of cannibalism among certain carnivorous dinosaurs. Behavioral patterns of extinct animals are difficult to establish; however, these bones give authentication to previous unfounded beliefs about the ancient feeding practices of some dinosaurs.
The idea of cloning dinosaurs and other prehistoric life became popularized by the 1992 film Jurassic Park (based on Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel). Though it may have sparked new interest into the field of paleontology, it did so with deceiving inaccuracies. However, the technical fallacies of the actual dinosaurs are somewhat forgivable as it added to the film’s dramatic appeal. Velociraptor, as depicted in the film, was about the size of a grown man. In reality, velociraptor came to about the kneecap. Furthermore, velociraptor would more likely have been covered in feathers rather than the lizard-like skin portrayed in the movie. One scene shows velociraptor fogging the window of a door. This is an endothermic or warm blooded trait as it implies the dromaeosaurid’s body temperature is above the temperature of his environment. There is also no evidence of dilophosaurus bearing a neck frill, and brachiosaurus did not have the ability to chew his food in a circular motion (iguanodon was the first dinosaur to develop this technique by acquiring back molars to allow for equine or bovine-like chewing). Fortunately, tyrannosaurus remained very close to his biological authenticity, with the only paleobiological errors stemming from a lack in computer animation such as rudimentary ball and joint programs. However, the erroneous nature of the deoxyribonucle...
The article Tyrannosaurus Rex was a Slowpoke by John Roach relieves us of our fears when it states that, “the Cretaceous landscape was filled with large, lumbering creatures that any human with a fast car or bike or maybe even a quick sprint could outpace” (Roach). He tells us that T-Rex, “did not have the leg strength to run very fast, if at all, according to a computer model developed by two experts in the mechanical movements of living creatures,” and, “bring the discipline of biomechanics to the long and at times contentious debate over just how fast the largest of the largest creatures ever to roam Earth could run.”
The Permian Triassic extinction was an event of cataclysmic disaster and almost the extinction of all species on planet earth. The Permian Triassic extinction is said to have occurred millions of years ago, geologist have estimated that its occurrences happened about 248 million to 286 million years ago. This rare occurrence of events proceeded the Triassic geologic periods and the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras. This mass disaster was the largest dissipation of living life on planet earth; it is believed to be even superior to other crises such as the Ordovician and Devonian events and the conclusion of the cretaceous era that came upon the dinosaurs.
We use dinosaurs to represent the changes in nature that have occurred throughout time. Studies found that although the “oldest rock did not show evidence of life, the progression of plant and animal life that changed in recognizable intervals, from ancient life, age of reptiles to the age of mammals” (Dino Nature Metaphor, slide 6), measured the age of the earth. When we think of dinosaurs in relation to nature, we think of that very powerful force that controls the cycle of life. Nature was able to yield such magnificent ferocious creatures that walked the earth and then take them back when they served nature’s purpose. Dinosaurs fit perfectly in nature’s constant
Dinosaurs are an extinct group of animals that thrived for 165 million years starting 230 million years ago in the Late Triassic period of the Mesozoic Era. Despite being extinct for the past 65 million years and not being able to study them in their true form, scientists have been able to estimate many different behaviors of dinosaurs. This paper will show that the close study and examination of different types of body and trace fossils, along with animal models, can be provided as evidence to estimate different types of behaviors in dinosaurs. The different types of behaviors examined below will fall into the categories of: mating; reproduction and nesting; social lives; locomotion; feeding; and fighting. To begin, a great deal of information gathered from fossils and compared to living animal models have been used to estimate mating behaviors.
The debate of whether dinosaurs were cold blooded or warm blooded has been ongoing since the beginning of the century. At the turn of the century scientists believed that dinosaurs had long limbs and were fairly slim, supporting the idea of a cold blooded reptile. Recently, however, the bone structure, number or predators to prey, and limb position have suggested a warm blooded species. In addition, the recent discovery of a fossilized dinosaur heart has supported the idea that dinosaurs were a warm blooded species. In this essay, I am going to give supporting evidence of dinosaurs being both warm and cold blooded. I will provide background information on the dinosaur that was discovered and what information it provides scientists.
The Triceratops were very interesting dinosaurs. They were very smart and strategic. They moved in herds and used mating calls. They were very complex. They had an interesting body shape that gave them an advantage towards their predators. They were known for their horns and parrot-like beaks. They were herbivores that lived in North America. Triceratopses were very interesting.
The Genus Varanus komodoensis, or more commonly known as the Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard on Earth. The Komodo dragon belongs to the class reptilian and the phylum Chordata. They are a species of Monitor Lizard that have been isolated for millions of years on the islands in Indonesian Archipelago and were not discovered until the First World War (Diamond, 1994).
would allow it to scavenge for its own food, so no special feedings would be
seems like it happened so sudden, as geologic time goes, that almost all the dinosaurs
Among the species that perished were the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, belemnoids, many species of plants, except ferns and seed-producing plants, ammonoids, marine reptiles and rudist bivalves. Severely affected organisms included planktic foraminifera, calcareous nannnoplankton, diatoms, dinoflagellates, brachiopods, mollusca, echinoids and fish. Mammals, birds, turtles, crocodiles, lizards, snakes and amphibians fared much better and were mostly unaffected by the End-Cretaceous mass extinction (“The End-cretaceous (K-T) Extinction”, accessed 2000...
Cartilaginous and bony fishes were abundant. Large fishes and marine reptiles were common; the largest bony fish ever to live existed at this time called the Leedsichthys, coming in at a mindboggling size. Estimates of the size of this fish range from 20 to 27 meters and mass from 20 to 50 tons (Owen). This species is the largest bony fish ever to have ever existed and swam in what is now near England. Jurassic pliosaurs are some of the largest carnivorous reptiles ever discovered, even rivaling Tyrannosaurus which lived during the Cretaceous Period, although the pliosaurs was not a dinosaur but distant cousins of modern turtles ranging from 4 to 15 meters. The ichthyosaurs were at their height, sharing the oceans with the plesiosaurs, huge marine reptiles covering the globe.