“The Sail-Backed River Giant”
Binomial Spinosaurus aegyptiacus · SPY-no-SORE-us
Early to Late Cretaceous - 106-94 Ma
IllustrationSpinosaurus fossil records in Fossil Atlas are mapped as selected modern discovery locations, with 24 source-backed records currently shown. North Africa, including selected Kem Kem, Ifezouane, Douira, Echkar, Quseir, and related Saharan records. Key mapped formations in the current dataset include Douira, Lubur Sandstone, Ifezouane. These pins are fossil record locations, not a complete ancient habitat map.
Spinosaurus is among the largest known carnivorous dinosaurs and one of the most debated. It lived in what is now North Africa during the Cretaceous period and is distinguished by elongated vertebral spines that formed a tall sail-like structure. Fossil Atlas maps selected records from Kem Kem, Ifezouane, Douira, Echkar, Quseir, and related Saharan deposits. Its long, narrow snout and conical teeth point to a diet that included fish, while dense bones and later tail studies have been used to argue for aquatic habits. Exactly how aquatic Spinosaurus was remains an active scientific debate.
Drawn true to scale on a metre ruler.
Length
measured15 m · 49 ft
Largest known specimens
Height
measured5-6 m (16-20 ft) including sail
Body mass
estimate6,800 kg · 15,000 lb
Typical adult
Top speed
estimate24 km/h · 15 mph
Modelled, debated
Bite force
estimate4,500 lbf
Teeth
measured≈ 64
Brain : body (EQ)
estimate1.3
Encephalization quotient
Spinosaurus combined the body of a giant theropod with a suite of features pointing toward life in and around water. Its long, narrow jaws, conical teeth, and dense bones suggest a predator that worked the rivers and tidal channels of Cretaceous North Africa, taking large fish and other aquatic prey. How much of its life was actually spent swimming remains one of the most actively debated questions in dinosaur palaeontology.
Feeding
A long, narrow snout lined with smooth, interlocking conical teeth, built to grip slippery prey such as fish rather than slice flesh. Like other predators it shed and replaced teeth continually.
The sail
Elongated neural spines formed a tall sail along the back. Its purpose is unresolved: display and signalling, species recognition, and thermoregulation have all been proposed.
In the water
Dense, thick-walled limb bones (pachyostosis), retracted nostrils set high on the skull, and a tall, paddle-like tail have been read as adaptations for an aquatic life, though the degree of active swimming is contested.
Build
Relatively short hind limbs and robust, strongly clawed forelimbs set it apart from typical large theropods, fuelling debate over how it moved on land and in water.
Position of this animal’s known range across 252 million years of the Mesozoic and beyond.
106-94 million years ago
Spinosaurus is among the largest known carnivorous dinosaurs, though size estimates remain tied to incomplete material.
It shows unusual aquatic adaptations for a non-avian dinosaur, though details of how it swam and hunted remain debated.
Its distinctive sail was made of elongated neural spines that may have been used for display, signaling, or thermoregulation.
Dense bones have been used as evidence for time spent in water.
Spinosaurus had a long, narrow snout with conical teeth suited to catching slippery prey such as fish.
Recent research on the tail has shaped debate about whether Spinosaurus actively propelled itself through water.
Spinosaurus was first described in 1915 by the German palaeontologist Ernst Stromer, based on material he had collected from the Bahariya Formation of Egypt. Those original bones were stored in Munich, where they were destroyed in a 1944 Allied bombing raid during the Second World War, leaving science dependent on Stromer's notes, drawings, and a handful of photographs for decades. Later finds from Morocco's Kem Kem beds and related Saharan deposits gradually filled in the picture, but much of the animal is still known only from fragmentary, disarticulated material. That incompleteness is why so much about Spinosaurus remains genuinely unsettled. Its size, its posture, and above all how aquatic it really was are still argued over, with high-profile studies of its tail and bone density continuing to reshape the debate.
Animals known from the same deposits and time as Spinosaurus.
Carcharodontosaurus
A giant carcharodontosaurid apex predator that shared the same North African river systems, and a likely rival for prey and carcasses.
Deltadromeus
A large, lightly built and probably fast theropod known from the Kem Kem deposits.
Onchopristis
A huge sawfish of the same waterways, the kind of large aquatic prey Spinosaurus is thought to have hunted.
Other members of Spinosauridae.
Suchomimus
An African spinosaurid and one of Spinosaurus' closest mapped relatives, with a long, narrow snout and fish-catching teeth much like its own.
Baryonyx
A European spinosaurid famous for the large hooked claw on its hand and fish scales found in its body cavity.
Irritator
A spinosaurid from Brazil, showing the family ranged across the Cretaceous landmasses of the southern continents.
Pins show selected fossil records for Spinosaurus; use them as modern discovery evidence, not a complete range map. Modern fossil discovery map: pins show where selected fossil and specimen records were found today, not ancient Earth positions. What does this mean?
Specimen evidence
These are sourced specimen assets, separate from reconstruction artwork. Only media with clear open or reusable rights is displayed by default.
Spinosaurus cervico-dorsal vertebrae
Bramfab
Spinosaurus foot bones
Kumiko
Spinosaurus vertebrae at the Schiele Museum
RidgelantRL
Spinosaurus skeletal mount, historical reconstruction
Kabacchi
Spinosaurus tooth and spine piece
Ghedoghedo
Spinosaurus is represented here by selected fossil records from north africa, including selected kem kem, ifezouane, douira, echkar, quseir, and related saharan records. Fossil Atlas maps those records as modern discovery locations.
No. The map shows modern fossil discovery locations from selected records. Ancient habitat and paleogeographic reconstructions are separate questions.
The current Fossil Atlas records include Douira. Formation coverage depends on the selected dataset and may not be complete.
Yes. Use the expedition card generator to turn the Spinosaurus map and specimen profile into a shareable card.
Selected fossil records from PBDB and museum biodiversity aggregators. This is not a complete fossil count by country; source labels and confidence notes help distinguish canonical paleobiology records from specimen-media records.
Reconstruction images are labeled illustrations and do not represent fossil evidence. Size, speed, and bite-force figures are typical published estimates and remain subject to revision as new specimens are described.
Maps use curated PBDB, museum, and specimen-source records with visible caveats.
Pins show where fossils were found or reported today, not exact ancient habitat positions.
Artwork is labeled separately from specimen photos, maps, and source records.
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