24 replies to this topic

[kolleamm]

if none of the options fit your opinion feel free to use your own

1. Do you think spinosaurus walked on all 4 sometimes,never,always?
2. What was spinosaurus sail used for? mating display,heat regulator,poison defense,hump of fat?
3. Did spinosaurus have an S shaped neck? ( I believe Baryonyx has a straight neck,not sure)
4. Did spinosaurus lay eggs?
5. How long would a typical spinosaurus live?
6. Did spinosaurus have any webbed limbs?

Thanks for reading, look forward to seeing your opinion

[dinodigger]

Spinosaur family (includes Baryonyx, bipedal, sexual display/defense visual, neck same baryonyx, oviparous as are all dinos, best age guess 40 years, longer ages for herbivores, possible minor webbing. Possibly a "croucher" to use forearms for feeding, hunting use.

kolleamm, on 08 September 2010 - 01:56 AM, said:

if none of the options fit your opinion feel free to use your own

1. Do you think spinosaurus walked on all 4 sometimes,never,always?
2. What was spinosaurus sail used for? mating display,heat regulator,poison defense,hump of fat?
3. Did spinosaurus have an S shaped neck? ( I believe Baryonyx has a straight neck,not sure)
4. Did spinosaurus lay eggs?
5. How long would a typical spinosaurus live?
6. Did spinosaurus have any webbed limbs?

Thanks for reading, look forward to seeing your opinion

[FossilForKids]

I thought the sail was quite useful for Dino body surfing

Seriously I think it is more of a mating attractor that anything else. I believe they would have been mostly bipedal and if they lived greater that 20 years I would be suprised. My understanding is Marine reptiles tended to be the longer lived but I'm not positive.

John

[kolleamm]

im a little doubtful on the sail used as a mating display because so many dinosaurs that lived along side spinosaurus also developed sails.

[FossilForKids]

kolleamm, on 08 September 2010 - 04:01 PM, said:

im a little doubtful on the sail used as a mating display because so many dinosaurs that lived along side spinosaurus also developed sails.

Maybe they also use it as a Mating display as well// No one has ever explained the physics of the thermoregulating theory of the sail that I'm aware of

[Auspex]

kolleamm, on 08 September 2010 - 04:01 PM, said:

im a little doubtful on the sail used as a mating display because so many dinosaurs that lived along side spinosaurus also developed sails.

How does it follow that several species would not develop such a display?

[kolleamm]

Auspex, on 08 September 2010 - 04:38 PM, said:

How does it follow that several species would not develop such a display?

perhaps several dinosaurs did evolve sails just for display, but I still think they were used for other things as well to give the dino an advantage, spinosaurus could have hidden itself from predators in the water, however with the water being so cold spinosaurus would need a way to heat itself up,thats where I assume the sail would come in.

[FossilForKids]

kolleamm, on 08 September 2010 - 04:57 PM, said:

perhaps several dinosaurs did evolve sails just for display, but I still think they were used for other things as well to give the dino an advantage, spinosaurus could have hidden itself from predators in the water, however with the water being so cold spinosaurus would need a way to heat itself up,thats where I assume the sail would come in.

There is evidence that Spinosaurus preyed on shallow water marine life but what predator would prey on a spinosaurus? Must have been one big puppy

[Boesse]

To be honest, I think Spinosaurus is an overrated, incredibly poorly known dinosaur, known by a really really partial skeleton that was destroyed in world war II, and there are far more interesting critters known (i.e. Suchomimus). Given the fact that the holotype skeleton has been destroyed, I'm really surprised that it hasn't been declared a nomen dubium (or thereabouts).

Using the much better known Suchomimus (which was, oddly enough, discovered by my undergradute advisor, Dave Varricchio) as a proxy-

1) Never... they're not quadrupedal. Most theropods aren't.
2) Probably none of the above. If thermoregulation were important, more dinosaurs in the same areas would also have sails. There aren't any other sailbacked critters hanging around there (except Ouranosaurus, which may not be from the same time period anyway).
3) Spinosaurids (like all other theropods, avian and non-avian alike) have straight necks.
4) Yes, like all other dinosaurs.
5) No one's done paleohistology on spinosaurids to my knowledge (too few specimens), but there are estimates of 35-50 years for Tyrannosaurids based on counting LAGs.
6) Probably not.

Bobby

[Ordovician_Odyssey]

kolleamm, on 08 September 2010 - 01:56 AM, said:

if none of the options fit your opinion feel free to use your own

1. Do you think spinosaurus walked on all 4 sometimes,never,always?
2. What was spinosaurus sail used for? mating display,heat regulator,poison defense,hump of fat?
3. Did spinosaurus have an S shaped neck? ( I believe Baryonyx has a straight neck,not sure)
4. Did spinosaurus lay eggs?
5. How long would a typical spinosaurus live?
6. Did spinosaurus have any webbed limbs?

Thanks for reading, look forward to seeing your opinion

1. no i dont believe they would have though they have significant arms they were probably used for fishing.
2.posibly mating display why would they need extra heating because in there era iot was quite hotter then the present day.
3.im not sure of the neck
4.i think spinosaurus would have layed eggs like every other dinosaur, the egg prosess is still continued today with modern birds and reptiles
5.35-55 prox
6.they could have
on that note.....i like styracosaurus....but carnivore..gigonotosaurus
-shamus

Edited by trilobite guy, 08 September 2010 - 06:14 PM.

[32fordboy]

I agree with Spinosaurus being totally overrated. Here's my highly unscientific opinion (of course how scientific can you get without good remains?):

I think Spinosaurus was a medium-depth feeder. The head shape is much like a croc's...good for feeding on fish. His above-water sail could have been used for thermoregulation if he did indeed spend most of his time in cooler waters. Land-based dinos would not have needed it. Supposedly he got really big. Maybe his large-for-a-theropod size was due to the fact that he spent much of his time in water.

I realize there are other dinos very similar to Spinosaurus, I realize crocodilians have no need for advanced thermoregulation, and I also realize there isn't really any good info to go by, but you now have my highly unscientific opinion about a creature we know next to nothing about.

[dinodigger]

Spinosaurus came from Pluto's outermost moon, Hydra, landing in Amsterdam shortly after the 1928 Olympics in space pods that, for the most part, appeared to be in the shape of Tom Selleck's mustache. Therefore they are deemed hydrophobic space-reptiles, who, on a lighter note and straying from the intended subject matter in question, induced a victory for Uruguay over Argentina in football during the games. With that said, the high ridge of spines are thought to be neurotransmitters, useful for beaming signals back to their home moon. During interphase of the cell cycle, mutations have been known to occur at high rates in spinosaurs, resulting in some neurotransmitters to emit the theme from the Brady Bunch or James bond. The reason for these mutations are unknown, though some scientists interpret these as messages from a unknown interplanetary deity, who is possibly angry that the Pittsburgh Pirates won the 1971 World Series. This also hints at the possibility that Spinosaurs are possibly fans of the Baltimore Orioles.

Go Yankees.

CF

Edited by dinodigger, 08 September 2010 - 07:05 PM.

[32fordboy]

Where the heck did you come up with that? That was absolutely beautiful.

[Auspex]

A supremely elegant theory!
Now all you have to do is to disprove the null hypothesis...

[JohnJ]

Clearly overrated and poorly understood.

dinodigger, on 08 September 2010 - 07:04 PM, said:

Spinosaurus came from Pluto's outermost moon, Hydra, landing in Amsterdam shortly after the 1928 Olympics in space pods that, for the most part, appeared to be in the shape of Tom Selleck's mustache. Therefore they are deemed hydrophobic space-reptiles, who, on a lighter note and straying from the intended subject matter in question, induced a victory for Uruguay over Argentina in football during the games. With that said, the high ridge of spines are thought to be neurotransmitters, useful for beaming signals back to their home moon. During interphase of the cell cycle, mutations have been known to occur at high rates in spinosaurs, resulting in some neurotransmitters to emit the theme from the Brady Bunch or James bond. The reason for these mutations are unknown, though some scientists interpret these as messages from a unknown interplanetary deity, who is possibly angry that the Pittsburgh Pirates won the 1971 World Series. This also hints at the possibility that Spinosaurs are possibly fans of the Baltimore Orioles.

Go Yankees.

CF

[Gizmo]

dinodigger, on 08 September 2010 - 07:04 PM, said:

Spinosaurus came from Pluto's outermost moon, Hydra, landing in Amsterdam shortly after the 1928 Olympics in space pods that, for the most part, appeared to be in the shape of Tom Selleck's mustache. Therefore they are deemed hydrophobic space-reptiles, who, on a lighter note and straying from the intended subject matter in question, induced a victory for Uruguay over Argentina in football during the games. With that said, the high ridge of spines are thought to be neurotransmitters, useful for beaming signals back to their home moon. During interphase of the cell cycle, mutations have been known to occur at high rates in spinosaurs, resulting in some neurotransmitters to emit the theme from the Brady Bunch or James bond. The reason for these mutations are unknown, though some scientists interpret these as messages from a unknown interplanetary deity, who is possibly angry that the Pittsburgh Pirates won the 1971 World Series. This also hints at the possibility that Spinosaurs are possibly fans of the Baltimore Orioles.

Go Yankees.

CF

Have you been hanging out with this guy?

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Edited by Gizmo, 08 September 2010 - 09:32 PM.

[dinodigger]

Oh dear God. Reminds me of an episode of "Tales From The Darkside...Of Paleontology"

Gizmo, on 08 September 2010 - 09:04 PM, said:

Have you been hanging out with this guy?

[Gizmo]

dinodigger, on 08 September 2010 - 09:07 PM, said:

Oh dear God. Reminds me of an episode of "Tales From The Darkside...Of Paleontology"

He-He!

[32fordboy]

Gizmo, on 08 September 2010 - 09:04 PM, said:

Have you been hanging out with this guy?

Aw, pic removed

Edited by 32fordboy, 08 September 2010 - 09:29 PM.

[Gizmo]

32fordboy, on 08 September 2010 - 09:29 PM, said:

Aw, pic removed

Oh and by the way Go Redskins! he says nervously.

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