10 cool Spinosaurus facts
- It was the biggest meat-eating dinosaur ever, even bigger than T. rex.
- It was as long as a school bus, up to about 15 metres (49 feet).
- It had a huge sail on its back, taller than a grown-up.
- Its name means spine lizard, because of those tall back spines.
- It had a long, thin snout like a crocodile, perfect for catching fish.
- Its teeth were smooth and cone-shaped for gripping slippery fish.
- It could swim, using a big paddle-shaped tail to push through water.
- It lived about 99 million years ago in rivers in North Africa.
- It lived long before T. rex, so the two never met in real life.
- It was the star dinosaur in the movie Jurassic Park III.
What did Spinosaurus eat?
Mostly fish! The rivers where it lived were full of giant fish, and Spinosaurus was built to catch them with its long jaws and pointy teeth. Sometimes it might have eaten smaller animals too, a bit like a giant grizzly bear at a river.
Could Spinosaurus swim?
Scientists think it could. In 2020 they found that Spinosaurus had a tall, flat tail shaped like a paddle, great for swimming. That makes it the only dinosaur we know that was really built for the water.