The hypothesis that one of the largest predators of the Cretaceous, the Spinosaurus , was a regular river dweller rather than a terrestrial hunter was gaining weight. Now, a new study carried out by researchers at the University of Portsmouth (UK) and published in the journal Cretaceous Research seems to definitively prove that this dinosaur from the Cretaceous period was an aquatic dinosaur. And it is that a huge amount of dental records of Spinosaurus have been found in the ancient bed of a river 100 million years ago.
He was not a land dweller
The experts examined a collection of more than 1,000 teeth (specifically 1,261) concluding that this giant predator was, beyond all reasonable doubt, a huge aquatic monster , confirming that the largest carnivorous dinosaur on record spent most of its time .. . in water.
Spinosaurus aegyptiacus was larger than Tyrannosaurus. It could grow up to 15 meters long from snout to tail and weigh around 6 tons and lived about 95 million years ago in what is now North Africa.
Everything runs from the research presented earlier this year that had already contributed to the theory that they could be river dinosaurs, since it was discovered that their tails were perfectly adapted for aquatic locomotion. This hypothesis initially encountered some opposition, since it challenges a decade-long ideas about the ecology and evolution of dinosaurs.
A river monster
Now, the discovery of hundreds of Spinosaurus teeth near Tarda on the north bank of the Tafilalt in southeastern Morocco further supports this hypothesis. Additionally, this dinosaur’s teeth are easy to spot thanks to its distinctive surface that has round cross-sections that glow in the light.
“The large number of teeth that we collected in the prehistoric riverbed reveals that Spinosaurus aegyptiacus was there in large numbers, representing 45% of the total dental remains ,” said David Martill of the University of Portsmouth, co-author of the work.
“We do not know of any other place where such a mass of dinosaur teeth has been found in rocks containing bones. The great abundance of teeth of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, relative to other dinosaurs, is a reflection of its aquatic lifestyle. It is much more. It is likely that an animal that lives much of its life in the water contributes with teeth to the river reservoir than those dinosaurs that perhaps only visited the river to drink and feed along its banks “, continues the expert.
The Spinosaurus was first discovered by the German paleontologist Ernst Stromer during excavations in Egypt between 1910 and 1914. Its name was due to the long and distinctive spines on its back. The expert brought dozens of Spinosaurus fossils to the Paleontological Museum in Munich, but they were destroyed when the city was bombed by allies during World War II and only drawings, photos and descriptions remained.
Referencia: Thomas Beevor et al. 2021. Taphonomic evidence supports an aquatic lifestyle for Spinosaurus. Cretaceous Research 117: 104627; doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104627
