Spinosaurus

Spinosaurus (meaning "spine lizard") was a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now North Africa, from the Albian to early Cenomanian stages of the Cretaceous Period, about 95 to 93 million years ago. It is unclear whether there are one or two species. The best known is S. aegyptiacus from Egypt, though a second species (S. marocannus) has been recovered from Morocco. It was first known from Egyptian remains discovered in the 1910s and described by German paleontologist Ernst Stromer. The original remains were destroyed in World War II, but additional skull material has come to light in recent years.

The distinctive "spines" of Spinosaurus, which were long extensions of the vertebrae, grew up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) long and were likely to have had skin connecting them, forming a sail-like structure, although some authors have suggested that they were covered in muscle and formed a hump or ridge. Multiple functions have been put forward for this structure, including thermoregulation and display. According to recent estimates, it is the largest of all known carnivorous dinosaurs, even larger than Tyrannosaurus rex and Giganotosaurus; these estimates suggest that it was 16 - 18 meters in length (52.5 - 59.1 ft), around 6 meters tall (20 ft), and 9 tonnes (9.9 tons) in weight, although these figures have not been universally accepted.