The Biggest Badass Swimming Dinosaur

In 2014, the skeleton of Spinosaurus aegypiacus revealed that the giant theropod of the Cretaceous period was semiaquatic. It was the the largest carnivorous dinosaur that ever lived. Spinosaurus had a large sail on its back, a paddle-shaped tail, and would have undulated through the water like an eel. The 42- to 60-foot-long carnivore lived 112 to 97 million years ago and weighed between seven and 22 tons. Spinosaurus was bigger than Giganotosaurus or Tyrannosaurus rex, but none of the three dinosaurs lived in the same area at the same time. Giganotosaurus lived on land during the Late Cretaceous period around 98 to 97 million years ago and weighed around 15 tons, making it slightly smaller than Spinosaurus. T-rex lived during the upper Cretaceous period between 67 to 65 million years ago and weighed between 4.5 and 7.2 tons, about a third of the weight of a Spinosaurus.

Ibrahim, N., Maganuco, S., Dal Sasso, C. et al. Tail-propelled aquatic locomotion in a theropod dinosaur. Nature (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2190-3

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