New fossil discoveries in the Sahara Desert challenge the recent depiction of Spinosaurus as a fully aquatic diver. The fossils were found in a terrestrial region of Niger, far from ancient coastlines, suggesting the dinosaur did not live in a marine habitat.
This contradicts the previous scientific interpretation, which was based on fossils found in coastal deposits. The new finding indicates Spinosaurus likely could not dive and its lifestyle remains unclear.
The main topics covered are the evolving scientific understanding of Spinosaurus, the new fossil discovery in a terrestrial environment, and how this contradicts prior aquatic theories.
The Spinosaurus is a sail-backed, crocodile-snouted dinosaur that Hollywood depicted as a giant terrestrial predator capable of taking down a T. rex in Jurassic Park 3. Then they changed their mind and made it a fully aquatic diver in Jurassic World Rebirth—a rendering that was more in line with the latest paleontological knowledge.
But now, deep in the Sahara Desert, a team of researchers led by Paul C. Sereno, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago, discovered new Spinosaurus fossils suggesting both scientists and filmmakers might have got it all wrong again. The Spinosaurus most likely wasn’t an aquatic diver because, apparently, it couldn’t dive.
Bones in the sand
While the T. rex-beating version of the Spinosaurus was considered unlikely due to its relatively fragile skull, the newer depiction as an aquatic diver made more sense in light of paleontological evidence. Until now, all remains of these predators were pulled from coastal deposits near ancient seas and oceans. That geographic distribution was consistent with the aquatic lifestyle interpretation. If a creature lived on the coast, maybe it swam out to sea like a prehistoric seal, only crawling out to the beaches to rest just as it was depicted in Jurassic World Rebirth.
But the Spinosaurus found by Sereno and his colleagues lived in a completely different neighborhood. The fossils were discovered in the central Sahara of Niger, in what was a terrestrial area called Jenguebi. “When you want to find something really, truly new, you have to go where few have been or maybe nobody has been,” Sereno says. “In the case of Jenguebi, I don’t think it’s seen a paleontologist before.” His team managed to find the site, led by local Tuareg guides after driving for over a day and half through the desert. “We had a team of nearly 100, including paleontologists, filmmakers, guides, and 64 armed guards. You feel like you’re in an Indiana Jones movie,” Sereno recalls. But the effort paid off.
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