JP3 and the Sensational Spinosaurus
Happy Thursday and welcome back to your favorite SciComm blog!
This week I wanted to kick off my regular blogging by blending my love (and frustration) for the Jurassic Park movies with a recent development in the science community. As I mentioned in my info about this blog (check the sidebar menu if you missed it), the JP franchise is definitely my favorite collection of movies; I still watch them pretty regularly. However, I could talk all day about the paleontological inaccuracies that riddle every single installment in the series. I won't do that today, but if you ask my boyfriend for the single phrase that I say the most, without question he will say "did you know Dilophosaurus is actually about six feet tall and doesn't even spit poison like it does in the movie?"
While Dilophosaurus is a favorite of mine and the original Jurassic Park film is obviously the best, today I want to talk about Jurassic Park 3 and its star lead: Spinosaurus. The introduction of Spinosaurus in this dino-filled movie was an exciting surprise for all of us JP fans (especially me, an enthusiastic 5-year-old on release day). JP3 was not well received by critics overall and has its fair share of paleo mishaps, but we all have to agree that the Spino-T. Rex fight was pretty awesome, right? While the movie definitely had its flaws (including the outcome of that fight), it introduced a dinosaur that we were still learning a lot about at the time: Spinosaurus aegyptiacus.
As with all science, we are STILL learning a lot about Spinosaurus, which is the whole point of this week's T. Rex-Files installment! When I talk about paleontology and some of the awesome things I got to see during my time in a paleo lab (shameless plug alert), many are surprised to learn that a full-body vertebrate fossil is relatively rare. In most cases, fragments or isolated parts are found in rock deposits that give you hints about what is going on anatomically and behaviorally. That being said, paleontology is NOT a guessing game. The "educated guesses" we make based on the fossils we do find are based on decades of research compiled from a variety of different sources. However, new discoveries are always showing up and telling us more about what extinct life was like.
~*Nerdy side note: Spinosaurus is actually a genus that contains two species, which is why it should be italicized in text. The relationship between these species (and whether they actually are separate species) is still heavily debated. However, these species are in the family Spinosauridae, which includes other dinosaurs you may have heard of, such as Suchomimus, Irritator, and Baryonyx. The type species for this family is in fact Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, and this species is much more understood and described. So, it is relatively safe to say that if you say Spinosaurus, most everyone knows you're talking about S. aegyptiacus and not S. maroccanus.*~
At the time of JP3's release, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus was known mostly for cranial bones and vertebrae, which provide a lot of information about body size, diet, and behavior, but can't tell us everything. S. aegyptiacus is a large theropod dinosaur from the middle Cretaceous period of northern Africa, particularly Egypt and Morocco. Recent studies have estimated Spinosaurus to be larger than the more famous T. Rex (Del Sasso et al., 2005; Smith et al., 2006) and still debate over the purpose of that famous sail (Gimsa et al., 2016). However, there is one thing that Jurassic Park 3 did get right: Spinosaurus' particular affinity for aquatics. The long, narrow snout and long clawed fingers of S. aegyptiacus suggest it may have snacked on fish and other aquatic species at least occasionally (Arden et al., 2019). However, our understanding of the exact nature of its aquatic lifestyle was a bit ambiguous until very recently.....
A new article was published in the journal Nature a few days ago that has been taking over Twitter and the SciComm multiverse since its release. The tail of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus was recently found for the first time by Ibrahim et al. (2020) and completely changed our perception of Spinosaurus and its lifestyle. They described the tail as long, flattened, and paddle-like. Using a robotic reconstruction, they recreated the range of motion that Spinosaurus was able to achieve with this tail, and ascertained that this is definitive proof that Spino spent a good amount of time in the water. Historically, the paleoecology and behavior of Spinosaurus has been hotly contested and many believed that an aquatic lifestyle was unlikely (Henderson, 2018). However, this discovery by Ibrahim et al. (2020) puts much of that to rest by suggesting this paddle-like tail was used to propel itself through the water and support a fishy lifestyle.
This exciting new paper from Ibrahim et al. just goes to show that new science is appearing all the time and changing everything we thought we knew. It's discoveries like this one that got me excited about science as a kid and encouraged me to make discoveries of my own. If you have suggestions for new posts, want to author a guest blog, or have questions/comments about this post, leave me a comment or fill out the contact form. So, thank you for reading this far and supporting this blog. Now, go make some discoveries!
References:
Arden, T. M. S., Klein, C. G., Zouhri, S., & Longrich, N. R. (2019) Aquatic adaptation in the skull of carnivorous dinosaurs (Theropoda: Spinosauridae) and the evolution of aquatic habits in spinosaurids, Cretaceous Research, 93, 275-284, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2018.06.013.
Dal Sasso, C., Maganuco, S., Buffetaut, E., & Mendez, M. A. (2005) New information on the skull of the enigmatic theropod Spinosaurus, with remarks on its size and affinities, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 25:4, 888-896, DOI: 10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0888:NIOTSO]2.0.CO;2
GIMSA, J., SLEIGH, R., & GIMSA, U. (2016). The riddle of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus’ dorsal sail. Geological Magazine, 153(3), 544-547. doi:10.1017/S0016756815000801
Henderson DM. 2018. A buoyancy, balance and stability challenge to the hypothesis of a semi-aquatic Spinosaurus Stromer, 1915 (Dinosauria: Theropoda) PeerJ 6:e5409 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5409
Ibrahim, N., Maganuco, S., Dal Sasso, C. et al. Tail-propelled aquatic locomotion in a theropod dinosaur. Nature 581, 67–70 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2190-3
Smith, J., Lamanna, M., Mayr, H., & Lacovara, K. (2006). New information regarding the holotype of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus Stromer, 1915. Journal of Paleontology, 80(2), 400-406. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2006)080[0400:NIRTHO]2.0.CO;2
This week I wanted to kick off my regular blogging by blending my love (and frustration) for the Jurassic Park movies with a recent development in the science community. As I mentioned in my info about this blog (check the sidebar menu if you missed it), the JP franchise is definitely my favorite collection of movies; I still watch them pretty regularly. However, I could talk all day about the paleontological inaccuracies that riddle every single installment in the series. I won't do that today, but if you ask my boyfriend for the single phrase that I say the most, without question he will say "did you know Dilophosaurus is actually about six feet tall and doesn't even spit poison like it does in the movie?"
While Dilophosaurus is a favorite of mine and the original Jurassic Park film is obviously the best, today I want to talk about Jurassic Park 3 and its star lead: Spinosaurus. The introduction of Spinosaurus in this dino-filled movie was an exciting surprise for all of us JP fans (especially me, an enthusiastic 5-year-old on release day). JP3 was not well received by critics overall and has its fair share of paleo mishaps, but we all have to agree that the Spino-T. Rex fight was pretty awesome, right? While the movie definitely had its flaws (including the outcome of that fight), it introduced a dinosaur that we were still learning a lot about at the time: Spinosaurus aegyptiacus.
 |
| Spinosaurus aegyptiacus courtesy of Wikimedia Commons By MartinThoma - File:006-Museu-Blau.jpg, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58292636 |
As with all science, we are STILL learning a lot about Spinosaurus, which is the whole point of this week's T. Rex-Files installment! When I talk about paleontology and some of the awesome things I got to see during my time in a paleo lab (shameless plug alert), many are surprised to learn that a full-body vertebrate fossil is relatively rare. In most cases, fragments or isolated parts are found in rock deposits that give you hints about what is going on anatomically and behaviorally. That being said, paleontology is NOT a guessing game. The "educated guesses" we make based on the fossils we do find are based on decades of research compiled from a variety of different sources. However, new discoveries are always showing up and telling us more about what extinct life was like.
~*Nerdy side note: Spinosaurus is actually a genus that contains two species, which is why it should be italicized in text. The relationship between these species (and whether they actually are separate species) is still heavily debated. However, these species are in the family Spinosauridae, which includes other dinosaurs you may have heard of, such as Suchomimus, Irritator, and Baryonyx. The type species for this family is in fact Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, and this species is much more understood and described. So, it is relatively safe to say that if you say Spinosaurus, most everyone knows you're talking about S. aegyptiacus and not S. maroccanus.*~
 |
| Size comparisons of representatives within the family Spinosauridae courtesy of Wikimedia Commons By Mario Lanzas - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85708394 |
At the time of JP3's release, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus was known mostly for cranial bones and vertebrae, which provide a lot of information about body size, diet, and behavior, but can't tell us everything. S. aegyptiacus is a large theropod dinosaur from the middle Cretaceous period of northern Africa, particularly Egypt and Morocco. Recent studies have estimated Spinosaurus to be larger than the more famous T. Rex (Del Sasso et al., 2005; Smith et al., 2006) and still debate over the purpose of that famous sail (Gimsa et al., 2016). However, there is one thing that Jurassic Park 3 did get right: Spinosaurus' particular affinity for aquatics. The long, narrow snout and long clawed fingers of S. aegyptiacus suggest it may have snacked on fish and other aquatic species at least occasionally (Arden et al., 2019). However, our understanding of the exact nature of its aquatic lifestyle was a bit ambiguous until very recently.....
 |
| Spinosaurus aegyptiacus courtesy of Wikimedia Commons By Didier Descouens - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11805404 |
A new article was published in the journal Nature a few days ago that has been taking over Twitter and the SciComm multiverse since its release. The tail of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus was recently found for the first time by Ibrahim et al. (2020) and completely changed our perception of Spinosaurus and its lifestyle. They described the tail as long, flattened, and paddle-like. Using a robotic reconstruction, they recreated the range of motion that Spinosaurus was able to achieve with this tail, and ascertained that this is definitive proof that Spino spent a good amount of time in the water. Historically, the paleoecology and behavior of Spinosaurus has been hotly contested and many believed that an aquatic lifestyle was unlikely (Henderson, 2018). However, this discovery by Ibrahim et al. (2020) puts much of that to rest by suggesting this paddle-like tail was used to propel itself through the water and support a fishy lifestyle.
 |
| Updated artist's rendition of S. aegyptiacus after the findings by Ibrahim et al., 2020 courtesy of Wikimedia Commons By Mario Lanzas - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=89602855 |
This exciting new paper from Ibrahim et al. just goes to show that new science is appearing all the time and changing everything we thought we knew. It's discoveries like this one that got me excited about science as a kid and encouraged me to make discoveries of my own. If you have suggestions for new posts, want to author a guest blog, or have questions/comments about this post, leave me a comment or fill out the contact form. So, thank you for reading this far and supporting this blog. Now, go make some discoveries!
References:
Arden, T. M. S., Klein, C. G., Zouhri, S., & Longrich, N. R. (2019) Aquatic adaptation in the skull of carnivorous dinosaurs (Theropoda: Spinosauridae) and the evolution of aquatic habits in spinosaurids, Cretaceous Research, 93, 275-284, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2018.06.013.
Dal Sasso, C., Maganuco, S., Buffetaut, E., & Mendez, M. A. (2005) New information on the skull of the enigmatic theropod Spinosaurus, with remarks on its size and affinities, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 25:4, 888-896, DOI: 10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0888:NIOTSO]2.0.CO;2
GIMSA, J., SLEIGH, R., & GIMSA, U. (2016). The riddle of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus’ dorsal sail. Geological Magazine, 153(3), 544-547. doi:10.1017/S0016756815000801
Henderson DM. 2018. A buoyancy, balance and stability challenge to the hypothesis of a semi-aquatic Spinosaurus Stromer, 1915 (Dinosauria: Theropoda) PeerJ 6:e5409 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5409
Ibrahim, N., Maganuco, S., Dal Sasso, C. et al. Tail-propelled aquatic locomotion in a theropod dinosaur. Nature 581, 67–70 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2190-3
Smith, J., Lamanna, M., Mayr, H., & Lacovara, K. (2006). New information regarding the holotype of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus Stromer, 1915. Journal of Paleontology, 80(2), 400-406. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2006)080[0400:NIRTHO]2.0.CO;2
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