Spinosaurus aegyptiacus : bipedal or quadrupedal ?

LordGladiator666

Spinosaurus was the largest theropod to ever walk on the earth, discovered in 1912 for the first time, it has been nominated to be larger than the mighty tyrannosaurus rex.

This giant theropod was suggested to be between 12.6–18 metros long (41–59 ft) and 4.25-5 meters tall, even new evidence has came to light to show that it was smaller than this...

this one is the original spinosaurus skeleton, larger than most of the other adult ones but strangely it's bones are thinner , his skull was long but fragile, with a bite estimated to be between 1-2 tons ( it's very difficult to determine a spinosaurus bite force).

This skeleton has proven that spinosaurus was bipedal too, even in 2014 something different has been found...

An a passionated paleontologist, named Ibrahim decided to paste all the bones of a new found spinosaurus and this was the final result :

this reconstruction was way different than the original one and from that moment it started to think that spinosaurus was not bipedal, but quadrupedal , also it has been proven that spinosaurus was not a dinosaur hunter, but a fish eater which spent most of the time in water as a crocodile.

here there is the 2014 reconstruction of spinosaurus :

so with this new evidence, spinosaurus wasn't  considered to be the biggest theropod ever (in terms of height and size, it was still the longest).

In 2015-16 all this has been debunked because some paleontologists started think that left legs of spinosaurus were incomplete and to prove that it is real we need to find more skeletons like this, even there are some others quadrupedal exemplars skeletons.

So for once again spinosaurus is bipedal, but not as the jurassic park 3 one which is very inaccurate.

but still considered to be a fish eater because his jaws were designed to catch fishes and his body was adapted to swim.       Even the quadrupedal theory is debunked, I personally think that there is a chance that spinosaurus may have been quadrupedal, maybe by an evolution or another specie of spinosaurus, don't judge me because it is just my own opinion.

Leave a comment of what do you think and share your opinion if you want !

So in your opinion... was spinosaurus bipedal

or was it quadrupedal ?

I wait for your answer :)

I Meme Everything

Bipedal, but still pretty short

I Meme Everything

Also, T.rex, Carcharodontosaurus, and Giganotosaurus are larger

LordGladiator666

Well , based on facts there are more chances that it was bipedal so I agree ;) but spino was the largest by length and height, tyrannosaurus , carcharodontosaurus and giganotosaurus are larger in weight

Sci-Fi King25

In my opinion it walked like this-

I Meme Everything

^Concur.

LordGladiator666

Yeah that could be an accurate way I agree

Jurrasic Park is Inaccurate

I personally don't know if it was Bipedal or not.

But I do have one question, why are both of my skeletons drastically different? They have to be different species of Spinosaur or something like that. 

I Meme Everything

^The original assumption of S.aegyptiacus was that it had a full, semi-circular sail and it walked on two legs. New fossils show that the sail dipped down in the middle and its legs were shorter.

Gavin

Looking at both fossil photographs in the OP it looks to me that the second, smaller fossil may be that of a juvenile, especially when you look at the difference in grandeur of the sail and the skull. IMO, this may suggest that young Spino's are primarily quadrupeds but as they mature they shift to a more upright posture becoming both quadrupedal and bipedal as adults, much like many Parasaurs.

Sips

You guys do know that more than 60% of the first photos skeleton was speculative, right? We didn't have much to go on then, but now we have a more complete skeleton so spino IS quadrupedal. Thats coming from someone who's fav movie is Jurassic Park III.

                "Random quote" -some fck boy

LordGladiator666

Sips even if this topic is a bit old, I perfectly know that many spinosaurus skeletons are speculated cuz it is really rare to find a complete skeleton instead of some bone fragments, I'd still say it was bipedal but short and close to quadrupedal design

LordGladiator666

I meme everything are you still active on here? Do you remember me ? I died 2 years ago but now I am BACK!

TheLazyFish

Tripedal XD. I think it was bipedal with short legs, and with it's posture somewhat more vertical than typical Theropods, basically giving it a little bit of a tripod position, which would give it a center of mass close to its hips, so it doesn't topple over. Definitely nowhere near the reconstructions of old vertical though. 

Sips

It is known that it was quadrupedal opinions don't matter it's fact that it's quadrupedal Bipedal just doesn't work for its lifestyle. We know it ate mostly fish and smaller dinosaurs. If it were bipedal it would fall over every time it hunted, I donno about you but to me that seems like a major set back.

"Splish splash you're opinion is trash" -a cool rubber duck

TheLazyFish

Sea birds and other marine feeding birds are bipedal, so Spino could be the same. If it had a posture like I mentioned it wouldn't necessarily fall over all the time, and if it swam or dived to catch fish, that wouldn't be a factor.

Sips

Spinosaurus was just a giant crocodile with a spine on its back. Tripedal positions aren't possible with Dinosaur hips. I hope you're memeing when you suggest tripedal positions because it's absolutely ridiculous.

"Shut up, the earth is flat and Adam and Eve road Triceratops!"- pretty sure Kent ham

LordGladiator666

Unfortunately we have too less skeletons and bones to be sure if Spinosaurs was bipedal or quadrupedal.

We can just try to deduce it by some characteristics of its bones, such as the toes which are plat on the lower part which touches the ground, just like ducks or acquatic birds. This probably makes Spinosaurus not like a deadly theropod like Charcarodontosaurus or Tyrannosaurus but more like a fish eater...a giant crocodile as you said.

To me it can be both, sometimes it walks on 4 legs and sometimes it walks bipedal.

TheLazyFish

I didn't mean quite like the old drawings, I was kinda exaggerating, just somewhat inclined, or more like this:

Here's some reasoning for it, and a link to more in depth explanation I can't provide: https://thepaintpaddock.wordpress.com/2016/07/16/t-rex-vs-spinosaurus-the-truth/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oCqSqY7FiI

LordGladiator666

I got what you mean TheLazyFish, I also think that spinosaurs could look like that, probably less feathers, but the design could be that

TheLazyFish

It looks a bit suited for cold climates to me, I think it would have coloring more suited to a swamp environment, to camouflage a bit. Other than that and the slightly excessive feathering, I think it looks pretty realistic.

Xenotaris

I think Spinosaurus switched back and forth between Bipedal and Quadrupedal stances. I don't think spinosaurus would have feathers due to its semi-aquatic nature I believe spinosaurids would gradually evolve away feathers. Also looking at the spinosaurids family tree, they evolved from megalosaurians which diverged before more bird-like theropods evolved (I.e. Carnosaurians "Allosaurids and Carchardontosaurids" and Ceolosurians "Tyrannosauroids, Orthinomimids, Dromaeosaurids, Troodonids, and Birds)

TheLazyFish

Well, ducks, swans, geese, etc. Have feathers, so not exactly out of the question. Best example I think would be penguins. My opinion though. I kinda agree with your opinion on switching stances, but I'm not sure exactly how it could walk on four legs, definitely not on knuckles though XD.