Dinosaur Encyclopedia · Pack 1
Spinosaurus
SPY-no-SORE-us
For younger explorers (ages 4–7)
Spinosaurus facts for kids
01
Spinosaurus was longer than a school bus!
02
The sail on its back was taller than a grown-up.
03
It caught fish with a snout shaped like a crocodile's.
For older explorers (ages 8–12)
Advanced Spinosaurus science
Spinosaurus is the longest known carnivorous dinosaur — longer than T. rex by several meters.
Its bones were dense like a penguin's, which helped it dive underwater.
The original fossils were destroyed in WWII — everything we knew came from old drawings until new bones were found in Morocco.
Latest science
Spinosaurus: The First Known Swimming Dinosaur
For nearly a century, Spinosaurus was a mystery. The first bones, found in Egypt in 1912, were destroyed when a museum in Munich was bombed during World War II. Scientists had to rely on old drawings and photographs — until a new skeleton turned up in the Moroccan desert.
In 2014, paleontologist Nizar Ibrahim and his team published a study in the journal Science showing that Spinosaurus was built for the water: dense bones like a penguin's (great for diving), nostrils high on its skull, paddle-like feet, and a long, flexible tail it could swish like a giant oar.
That makes Spinosaurus the first known semi-aquatic dinosaur — a 15-meter predator that hunted huge fish in the river systems of Cretaceous North Africa, a region so full of giant predators that scientists call it 'the river of giants.'
Journal Citation
Ibrahim, N. et al. (2014). Semiaquatic adaptations in a giant predatory dinosaur. Science, 345(6204), 1613–1616.
Cretaceous neighbors
Who lived alongside Spinosaurus?
Carcharodontosaurus
carnivoreAnother giant predator that hunted in the same rivers — like having two T. rexes in one place!
Onchopristis
carnivoreA giant sawfish with a snout full of barbed teeth — Spinosaurus's favorite meal.
Aegyptosaurus
herbivoreA massive long-necked plant-eater that shared the same African floodplains.
Get the full expedition
The complete Spinosaurus pack
Download the complete Spinosaurus expedition pack — 10 pages, both age tiers, real paleontology. Free for new members.
No credit card required. Cancel anytime.
Keep exploring