Some time ago, there was another "explosive event" in the circle of paleontologists on the Internet, because a new study made Spinosaurus, the largest carnivorous dinosaur in history full of mysteries and controversies, "change its appearance" again.
New research on Spinosaurus suggests that this dinosaur had a tail fin suitable for swimming
The study found that Spinosaurus had a caudal fin, which added new evidence to the aquatic habits of Spinosaurus.
It is not difficult to understand why paleontologists have reacted so much, after all, from the seemingly powerful overlord to today's "aquatic old fisherman", the image of the spinosaurus has changed too much.
So, what changes have undergone in the image of spinosaurus?
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > spinosaurus "died" again</h1>
In 1912, the German paleontologist Ernst Stromer discovered the skeleton of a giant theropod dinosaur in the Baihariye oasis in western Egypt, including an incomplete mandible, 2 cervical vertebrae, and 7 vertebrae with very long nerve spines.
The long nerve spines on the dorsal spine indicate that Acanthosaurus had a very large dorsal sail on its back, which is where the name spinosaurus (spinosaurus " spinosaurus " spinosaurus " ) is derived.
Sketch of the skeleton of Spinosaurus given in Stetmo's paper
During the course of his research, Steus also discovered that this large dinosaur was different from other theropod dinosaurs, and in the paper, the paleontologist only gave skeletal sketches and fossil pictures, and did not have an accurate description of the ecology of Spinosaurus.
Ernst Stormer
In 1936, Stetmer gave the first restored image of Spinosaurus. This restored image of Spinosaurus is not significantly different from other theropod dinosaurs except for the back sail connected by nerve spines on the back.
And limited by the cognition of dinosaurs at that time, theropod dinosaurs were bipedal standing, tail mopping the ground "kangaroo" standing posture, the first generation of spinosaurus image was born. And somehow, the characteristics of the narrow "crocodile mouth" of the spinosaurus did not show it.
Stetmo gives a diagram of the skeleton mounting of spinosaurus
Unfortunately, the fossil spinosaurus found by Stemer was not preserved from World War II.
The fossils were preserved in the Paleontological Museum in Munich, where they could not be moved to safety in time due to the refusal of Nazi officers, and were eventually destroyed in 1944 by Allied bombing, a North African behemoth that was "killed" by humans more than a hundred million years after its death.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > movie superstar who beat the T-Rex</h1>
In 1975, paleontologist Robert Barker proposed the concept of the "dinosaur renaissance". This small-scale scientific revolution, which began in the 1960s, transformed dinosaurs from slow-moving, cold-blooded animals into active, fast, and alert warm-blooded animals.
The image of the spinosaurus also changed.
However, even with some changes in the image, the popularity of Spinosaurus is still the same as before, just a slightly special large theropod dinosaur.
The image of spinosaurus in dinosaur magazine published by Orbis Publishing House in the United Kingdom in 1993 can be seen to have some changes in the standing posture of kangaroos before, but the head is still not much different from other theropod dinosaurs
Things didn't change until Jurassic Park 3, released in 2001. The director who made the film wanted to find a dinosaur that was "different from T. rex at first glance", so Spinosaurus was successfully elected as the "male number one" of the film because of the typical "crocodile mouth" and back sail.
The Spinosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex in Jurassic Park 3 have a clear difference in appearance
In this film, spinosaurus is depicted as a ferocious beast that surpasses the Tyrannosaurus rex, and even breaks the Tyrannosaurus rex's neck in a fight.
The battle between the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Spinosaurus in the movie
The Spinosaurus Roar after killing the Tyrannosaurus Rex
Although these plots are largely due to the filmmakers' efforts to attract attention, it is undeniable that the carnivorous dinosaur, which is larger than the Tyrannosaurus rex, does gain a lot of popularity in the film.
Since then, the image of Spinosaurus as "the world's largest carnivorous dinosaur" has been deeply rooted in people's hearts, and the Spinosaurus in Jurassic Park 3 has become one of the most classic Spinosaurus images.
One of the "classical restorations" of the Egyptian spinosaurus| source: Ammonite Jun
Bipedal standing version of the ecological restoration of Spinosaurus
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > spinosaurus "lay down"</h1>
In 2014, paleontologist Nizar Ibrahim's research based on newly excavated fossils showed that the spinosaurus body was slender and suitable for swimming; its toes were scattered, indicating that there may be webs between the toes, and more importantly, the spinosaurus changed from the original "big long legs" to relatively short hind limbs like crocodiles.
From the image point of view, the spinosaurus suddenly "fell down".
Short-legged version of the Spinosaurus skeleton
All of this evidence suggests that Spinosaurus may have been an aquatic dinosaur, or at least that they spent part of their time in water.
Short-legged version of Spinosaurus restoration and several aquatic animals in its habitat| Source: Wikipedia
Fossil evidence suggests that during the age of Spinosaurus, large fish several meters long lived in local rivers, including sawfish, lungfish, polyfinfish and sharks, and the presence of these large fish provided an adequate food source for Spinosaurus.
Coupled with their fishing-friendly mouth structure and the information provided by dinosaur fossils such as heavy clawed dinosaurs belonging to the same family of spinosaurs, this 14-meter-long theropod dinosaur confirmed the identity of "old fisherman".
However, there are also many paleontologists who have questioned the short-legged version of spinosaurus, including the fossils of spinosaurus used in the study from individuals of different ages, or the weight of the short-legged version of spinosaurus is unbalanced.
At the same time, the image of the spinosaurus standing on two feet and killing in the movie is so deeply rooted in the hearts of the people that the original spinosaurus image still has a large number of fans.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > big tail
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Going back to the beginning of this article, in April, Nizar Ibrahim's team published new research on Spinosaurus.
The new fossil is a very complete column of spinosaurus tail vertebrae, with elongated nerve spines above the tail vertebrae, suggesting that spinosaurus had a large tail with a flattened, tail fin.
Reconstruction of Spinosaurus based on new findings| Source: Wikipedia
The large tail of Spinosaurus just answered their previous "top-heavy" problem, and the new Spinosaurus tail was organized by thickening the tail axis, just enough to balance the weight of the head, making the new Spinosaurus image very balanced.
This large tail with tail fins can provide spinosaurus with 8 times the thrust of the tails of other theropod dinosaurs in the water, which is arguably the strongest evidence that spinosaurs lived in water.
Ecological restoration map of Spinosaurus living in water| Source: National Geographic Chinese Network
This new discovery has also triggered crazy pranks by paleontologists and netizens, such as the "sub-adult spinosaurus" assembled with the dorsal fins of the Nile crocodile and the sailfish, and the "spinosaurus larvae" that use the crown salamander to prank.
The "sub-adult spinosaurus" captured by African people | P: Dada
"Spinosaurus larvae" | P: Orca
There is even a "free self" version of spinosaurus with its forelimbs as flippers, because only sketches are available, and they are not released here.
From the "kangaroo" standing posture, to the movie star, to the "Cretaceous old fisherman" who swims underwater, with the deepening of research, the image of spinosaurus has undergone continuous changes.
Three versions of the 1936, 2014, and 2020 reconstructions of the spinosaurus skeleton | Source: National Geographic Chinese Network
It should be noted that fossils can only convey to us part of the information about the creatures that once lived on the earth, and we can only speculate from this information about the scales and half of the creatures that have disappeared into history.
Even paleontological "big guys" like Edward Copper have made the low-level mistake of attaching the head of a flakeosaurus to its tail.
Therefore, the change in the image of spinosaurus is only an inevitable process that we humans go through in the study of them.
Perhaps, in future discoveries, there will be a subversion of the image of paleontology that we know, but this may be the charm of paleontology, you say?