The latest Spinosaurus aegypticus discovery is perhaps one of the most interesting findings in the history of the dinosaur era. For one thing, this is the first study that claims that a semiaquatic - capable of living in both land and water - dinosaur existed many, many years ago.
According to Sci-News.com, the Spinosaurus aegypticus fossils found by scientists are believed to be dated for nearly 95 million years ago.
The carnivorous giant is said to be the largest predatory dinosaur to have lived on the planet in terms of size. In fact, it is 3 meters longer than the popular "Jurassic Park" featured monster, the Tyrannosaurus rex or simply T. rex, according to the international team pf paleontologists headed by Dr. Dawid Iurino of the Sapienza Universita di Roma, Italy.
Based on the Spinosaurus aegyptiucs skeleton, the team of scientists inferred that the dinosaur may have developed a variety of previously unknown aquatic adaptations.
The new reconstruction of the semiaquatic monster also revealed that its skeleton alone measures 50 feet and that it had powerful jaws and teeth. ... It probably had outsized arms, with flashing scythe-like claws," said University of Chicago's Paul Sereno - one of the co-authors of the research. "It wouldn't have been fast on land, but you would not want to encounter this animal."
The first discovery of the fossils of the Spinosaurus aegypticus - meaning spine lizard - was unearthed in Egypt about a century ago by German scientist Ernst Stromer, reported USA Today.
However, the skeleton of the monster was pulverized when World War II broke and only fragmented fossils were left for the first study on the then-unknown dinosaur.
Fortunately, the new fossils unearthed in the Morocan Sahara have given hope for paleontologists to study how the Spinosaurus aegypticus really looked like and how it lived during the dinosaur era.
"We relied upon cutting-edge technology to examine, analyze and piece together a variety of fossils. For a project of this complexity, traditional methods wouldn't have been nearly as accurate," said Dr. Simone Maganuco of the Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano, Italy - another co-author of the paper.
The team of scientists reportedly used the digital model of the semiaquatic beast in creating an anatomically-precise replica.
"What surprised us even more than the dinosaur's size were its unusual proportions. We see limb proportions like this in early whales, not predatory dinosaurs," Sereno, quipped.
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