Talk:Spinosaurus/@comment-64.229.166.157-20170805184207/@comment-29637681-20170806035742

Sigh...Whatever I say now, I'm probably going to regret for the rest of my life.

Recent 2014 studies make everything we knew about Spinosaurus absolutely laughable. For context, it appears that it was quadrupedal and had a square sail. It also appeared to have short legs and spent almost all of its time in the water.

While I agree with the square sail, there's a little question I have: why do none of the other Spinosauridae also have short limbs and/or a quadrupedal stance?



Strange relation problems aside, the quadrupedal, short-limbed figure seems to be the more accurate one. Had it been the first bipedal stance, it would not have been as skilled in the water, as it may have had to do some sort of "doggy-paddle," hampering what little ability it had. Though if it were quadrupedal, it would have been far more efficient, like crocodiles, as it could slide though the water with less sound than if it were splashing its limbs with gusto.



Another thing to take into consideration is its habitat and the time it went extinct. Around its "extinction date," which was the Albian stage of the Cretaceous(93.5 MYA, Early-Mid Cretaceous), the world went under severe drought and overheating. This caused the Spinosaurus to forage inland, and give up on the very thing it was made to sustain on.

By this time, while everything about the Spinosaurus screamed "I'm awesome," the world screamed "You're outclassed!" right back. It found itself horribly outdone by the Carcharodontosaurus as a land predator, as it had a stronger bite and sacrificed its front limbs for more power, something the Spinosaurus obvuously lacked. Had the Spinosaurus been bipedal, it would keep up with, and eventually kill off, the Carcharodontosaurus, and likely persisted well into the later stages of the Cretaceous.But it didn't. It died three million years before Mr. Shark Tooth(who died out 91-88 MYA). So it obviously was horribly outclassed by Carcharodontosaurus, and its questionable body type was its undoing.

Therfore, it seems to be more logical that Spinosaurus was quadrupedal; it served as a boon in the water, and it only seems logical that its downfall was also because of this.