The fossil of a giant dinosaur has been discovered in Spain. The excavation was already done in 2011, but the scientific journal ‘Scientific Reports’ published the new findings this week. These are special because the animal is considered by scientists to be an entirely new species and genus of Spinosaurus, a dinosaur family whose fossils have been found in Europe, Asia and South America.
Spinosaurs were large, carnivorous dinosaurs that walked on two legs. They hunted large fish along ancient riverbanks. Well-known spinosaurs include the Baryonyx with its impressive crocodile mouth and the Spinosaurus, which became famous for its fictional battle with the Tyrannosaurus in Jurassic Park III. The unique dinosaurs weighed between 13 and 22 tons and had a very different lifestyle from other known predatory dinosaurs.
Although spinosaurs are believed to have originated in Europe, evidence of their existence in present-day Spain is based primarily on fossilized tooth remains. In this study, a team of paleontologists analyzed a right jawbone, one tooth and five vertebrae discovered in eastern Spain.
New species
The new species has been named Protathlitis Cinctorrensis, which comes from the Greek word for “champion”. This name refers to the Europa League that football club Villarreal CF won in 2021.
In an interview with the Natural History Museum, Cassius Morrison, a co-author of the study, noted that “the spinosaurs are very special theropods. Theropods are characterized by their posture, sharp teeth and claws. They ate fish and lived in and around water, but there is much debate about the degree of their adaptation to water.”
Some scientists suggest they resembled herons and caught fish while wading, while others think they were more like penguins and could move underwater to catch fish. The Spinosaurus had a higher bone density, which could indicate that they spent time underwater.
LOOK. The T. rex did have lips, and it looked like this
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