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Spinosaurus aegyptiacus v Tyrannosaurus rex
Topic Started: Jan 7 2012, 02:16 AM (459,218 Views)
Wolf Eagle
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Tyrannosaurus rex
Tyrannosaurus is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex (rex meaning "king" in Latin), commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other tyrannosaurids. Fossils are found in a variety of rock formations dating to the Maastrichtian age of the upper Cretaceous Period, 67 to 65.5 million years ago.[1] It was among the last non-avian dinosaurs to exist before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Like other tyrannosaurids, Tyrannosaurus was a bipedal carnivore with a massive skull balanced by a long, heavy tail. Relative to the large and powerful hindlimbs, Tyrannosaurus forelimbs were small, though unusually powerful for their size, and bore two clawed digits. Although other theropods rivaled or exceeded Tyrannosaurus rex in size, it was the largest known tyrannosaurid and one of the largest known land predators. By far the largest carnivore in its environment, Tyrannosaurus rex may have been an apex predator, preying upon hadrosaurs and ceratopsians, although some experts have suggested it was primarily a scavenger. The debate over Tyrannosaurus as apex predator or scavenger is among the longest running in paleontology. Tyrannosaurus rex was one of the largest land carnivores of all time; the largest complete specimen, FMNH PR2081 ("Sue"), measured 12.8 metres (42 ft) long, and was 4.0 metres (13.1 ft) tall at the hips. Mass estimates have varied widely over the years, from more than 7.2 metric tons (7.9 short tons), to less than 4.5 metric tons (5.0 short tons), with most modern estimates ranging between 5.4 and 6.8 metric tons (6.0 and 7.5 short tons). Packard et al. (2009) tested dinosaur mass estimation procedures on elephants and concluded that dinosaur estimations are flawed and produce over-estimations; thus, the weight of Tyrannosaurus could be much less than usually estimated. Other estimations have concluded that the largest known Tyrannosaurus specimens had a weight exceeding 9 tonnes.

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Spinosaurus aegyptiacus
Spinosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur which lived in what is now North Africa, from the lower Albian to lower Cenomanian stages of the Cretaceous period, about 112 to 97 million years ago. Spinosaurus may be the largest of all known carnivorous dinosaurs, even larger than Tyrannosaurus and Giganotosaurus. Estimates published in 2005 and 2007 suggest that it was 12.6 to 18 metres (41 to 59 ft) in length and 7 to 20.9 tonnes (7.7 to 23.0 short tons) in weight. The skull of Spinosaurus was long and narrow like that of a modern crocodilian. Spinosaurus is thought to have eaten fish; evidence suggests that it lived both on land and in water like a modern crocodilian. The distinctive spines of Spinosaurus, which were long extensions of the vertebrae, grew to at least 1.65 meters (5.4 ft) long and were likely to have had skin connecting them, forming a sail-like structure, although some authors have suggested that the spines were covered in fat and formed a hump. Multiple functions have been put forward for this structure, including thermoregulation and display. Dal Sasso et al. (2005) assumed that Spinosaurus and Suchomimus had the same body proportions in relation to their skull lengths, and thereby calculated that Spinosaurus was 16 to 18 meters (52 to 59 ft) in length and 7 to 9 tonnes (7.7 to 9.9 short tons) in weight. The Dal Sasso et al. estimates were criticized because the skull length estimate was uncertain, and (assuming that body mass increases as the cube of body length) scaling Suchomimus which was 11 meters (36 ft) long and 3.8 tonnes (4.2 short tons) in mass to the range of estimated lengths of Spinosaurus would produce an estimated body mass of 11.7 to 16.7 tonnes (12.9 to 18.4 short tons).

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Edited by Taipan, Apr 24 2015, 10:10 PM.
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MightyMaus
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Spinodontosaurus
Apr 16 2013, 05:31 AM
T. rex is the nickname given to it in Jurassic Park. It just so happens that it is a nickname that is actually a correct way of identifying the animal. Except everybody started spelling it wrong, hence the widespread usage of 'T-rex' and variations of.


EDIT: I recall being sent a copy of the paper itself sometime ago, but also recall not really understanding it at the time. I'll try and dig it up from my emails. But yes, iirc, the study concluded that, based on oxygen isotope ratios in the teeth of various theropods, that spinosaurids were more semi-aquatic than other theropods.

There was less difference between the ratios in Spinosaurus and its contemporary theropods than there was between other spinosaurids and their contemporary theropods. This could mean one of two things, either theropods from Spinosaurus' time were more aquatic than normal or Spinosaurus was less aquatic then other spinosaurids.

I have, however, read that the isotope ratios could just as well be different in spinosaurids due to obtaining it from their prey; mostly aquatic animals such as fish. Thus, the lower difference in Spinosaurus might imply a diet consisting of less aquatic prey than other spinosaurids.

EDIT 2:
[url=/archosauria/images/a/a4/2010_Spinosauridi_aquatici.pdf]Oxygen isotope evidence for semi-aquatic habits among spinosaurid theropods[/url].
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This semiaquatic oxygen isotope signature is not clearly observed for Spinosaurus from Tunisia and Morocco, even though this genus possesses highly advanced specializations for fish catching in jaw elongation and tooth morphology.
Thanks for getting that quote up for me.

And, as far as I understand, the isotope measurements have almost nothing to do with diet, and almost everything to do with water transpiration throughout the animal's life.
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MightyMaus
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I think Spinosaurus might have filled the role of ecological bully. It had the size, strength, and appearance to drive any other predator off their kill. It was probably a bit too slow for super active hunting, other than sauropods and aquatic prey. I feel the Bear/Spinosaurus comparison is quite adequate.
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7Alx
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Even if "T-rex" is nickname, i still prefer use T. rex or Tyrannosaurus... I don't need to say, why.
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theropod
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There is no reason to use it, T. rex doesn't take longer to write and sounds the same...
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Shaochilong
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theropod
Apr 16 2013, 11:34 PM
There is no reason to use it, T. rex doesn't take longer to write and sounds the same...
And plus it is a scientifically valid name.
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Drift
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Monitor X
Apr 13 2013, 05:45 AM
theropod
Apr 13 2013, 05:29 AM
Veery funny, really

I suppose the equivalent in ridiculing T. rex (ignoring the fact that there are really some fanboys around who would do this in all seriousness) would be to compare its jaws to a nuclear bomb...

We have see the arms of several other spinosaurs and they all are large and massively constructed. if you doubt that, bring up evidence. For all we know they were positioned just fine for being used in this fight.
No, it's you who have to bring evidence that Spino, or any theropod with "large" arms, could use it efficiently in a frontal assault. The contrary is not true for Tyrex jaws, there's no need of stupid analogies with a nuclear bomb for demonstrate the lethal potency of his bite.
Agreed
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theropod
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And why is it me who has to bring even more evidence than the evidence you are ignoring, not you who has to bring evidence for the contrary?
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MightyMaus
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Something important I just stumbled upon, the preserved snout of MSNM V4047 is 99cm to the front of the antorbital fenestra. The entire preserved specimen is closer to 1.08 meters long. When I scale up skulls to that size, they tend to be about 1.85-2 meters long.
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=0 I forgot about that argument me and that other guy had.
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Jinfengopteryx
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MightyMaus
Apr 22 2013, 10:01 AM
The entire preserved specimen is closer to 1.08 meters long.
Where did you get that number from?
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theropod
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I guess he scaled it to 99cm from the premaxilalry tip to the anteriormost rim of the AoF. But the paper sais this specimen was 99cm long, not that some specific dimension was that long. It just states it was preserved up to the rostral portion of the AoF, which it is, not that the measurements refers to the lenght up to the ROSTRALMOST portion. as you see, there are several centimetres of maxillary "main body" (can hardly call it main body here...) below the fenestra, and those are probably included in the lenght figure.
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@brolyeupfusion Are you STILL going for spino


:()()()
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MightyMaus
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Nate
Apr 23 2013, 07:11 AM
@brolyeupfusion Are you STILL going for spino


:()()()
Well, it is the logical choice after all! :D
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MightyMaus
Apr 23 2013, 07:58 AM
Nate
Apr 23 2013, 07:11 AM
@brolyeupfusion Are you STILL going for spino


:()()()
Well, it is the logical choice after all! :D
...
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theropod
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He is right! What's so funny about that?
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