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Spinosaurus was a megalosauroid theropod dinosaur known from Saharan Africa. The namesake of the spinosaurid family, it was the largest member of the clade and possibly the largest carnivorous dinosaur. It was specialized to a largely aquatic lifestyle, hunting the massive fish and likely crocodilians too that lived in northern Africa during the Late Cretaceous period. It possibly hunted dinosaurs on land when necessary.

Paleoworld (1994-1997)[]

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When Dinosaurs Ruled (1999-2000)[]

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Disney's Dinosaur (2000)[]

History:
Spinosaurus was planned to appear in the Disney film, but got scrapped.

Design:
One design by Ricardo Delgado.

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Jurassic Park franchise (2001 - 2022)[]

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Inaccuracies

  • Spinosaurus is depicted as a super predator that didn't hunt in water, in the jp franchise it is portrayed heavily on baryonyx, except with wider jaws, 2 allo saurian crests, pronated hands, and a half circle sail. In reality it was a wading generalist with a paddle shaped tail, narrower jaws, a singular crest on it's head, shorter legs, and no pronated hands.

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Gallery: Jurassic Franchise Spinosaurus/Gallery

Spinosaurus CC

Spinosaurus in Camp Cretaceous (same one from Jurassic Park 3)

The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt (2002)[]

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Land Before Time franchise (2007)[]

Role Spinosaurus appears as the sole antagonist in the twelfth Land Before Time film The Great Day of the Flyers. Two Spinosaurus briefly appear in the episode “The Hermit of Black Rock” in The Land Before Time television show, looking hungrily at Petrie the Pteranodon, Guido the Microraptor and Swooper the Harpactognathus above them.

Inaccuracies

  • The Spinosaurus is depicted as a fast, agile runner, but actual Spinosaurus had proportionately short legs, thus making it very ungainly on land.
  • Because of its proportionately short legs, it should be more upright, much like a duck or a pelican.
  • The Spinosaurus has a skull similar to that of a Suchomimus, lacking the nasal crest and kink in its premaxila.
  • The Spinosaurus has nostrils located on the tip of ots snout instead of near its eyes.
  • The sail is similar to that of a Dimetrodon, rather than the rectangular kinked sail that the real Spinosaurus had, as it was recently found out in 2020. In addition to that, it should have a finned tail instead of a typical theropod tail, as it was recently found out in 2020.
  • The Spinosaurus lacking the thumb claw that the real Spinosaurus had.
  • The Spinosaurus is depicted as a terrestrial predator in a barren, dry environment, whereas the real Spinosaurus was built more for hunting aquatic prey and is primarily known from rocks preserving lush marine ecosystems. Even at the time when The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers was made, Spinosaurus was known to have been a piscivore, though it may have occasionally hunted small dinosaurs and pterosaurs like the Spinosaurus in this Land Before Time film does (fossils from other parts of the world indicate that other spinosaurids at least occasionally preyed upon other dinosaurs and pterosaurs).

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Primeval (2007-2012)[]

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Dinosaur King (2007-2009)[]

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Prehistoric Monsters Revealed (2008)[]

Role Spinosaurus has a minute role in the special, where it is explained that Spinosaurus was a swamp-dwelling piscivore rather then a terrestrial predator as many thoght.
Inaccuracies

  • The model is heavily based off JP's model, and carries over most of if not all its problems it has, not the least being pronated hands, two bony crests instead of now.

History and Design
The Model was stock image created by turbosquid user Virtual creator. It can be presumed it was use to save on time and money.
Cultural Significance
None
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Monsters Resurrected (2009)[]

Role A Spinosaurus is inaccurately and unrealistically portrayed as the apex predator in the Monsters Resurrected episode “Biggest Killer Dino”, picking up a Rugops in its jaws and killing it by throwing it around like a crocodile (there is a few scenes in the episode where the Spinosaurus chases down and kills a Rugops), getting into a fight with a Carcharodontosaurus and unrealistically killing the carcharodontosaurid by slapping the predator’s face with a swipe of its claw before roaring victoriously, and disemboweling a Sarcosuchus. After failing to hunt a Paralititan, it tries to steal a Paralititan carcass from a Rugops pack, but one of the abelisaurids clamps down on its hand, while another bites its tail, causing the large theropod to fall to the ground and break its sail, killing it immediately. The Rugops pack then devour the dead Spinosaurus.

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Bizarre Dinosaurs (2009)[]

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Planet Dinosaur (2011)[]

Role In the Planet Dinosaur episode Lost World, a Spinosaurus appears walking through a North African swamp and spooking an Ouranosaurus which mistakes it as a threat and runs to its herd. It leaves the Ouranosaurus herd to fish for Onchopristis, which are migrating into freshwater rivers to spawn. While the Spinosaurus fishes in the river, a Rugops scavenges its leftovers. During the drought, the Spinosaurus is scared away from the remaining water by a Sarcosuchus after a brief confrontation with the smaller crocodiles. The Spinosaurus kills a pterosaur called Alanqa, before moving on. It then decides to steal an Ouranosaurus carcass from a Carcharodontosaurus and it ends up fighting the large theropod over the carcass. The Spinosaurus wins the fight by slashing the Carcharodontosaurus on the back and forcing it to back down. It feeds on the Ouranosaurus carcass, before taking a rest in the desert. At the end of the episode of Planet Dinosaur, the Spinosaurus is shown dead in the desert, possibly due to the bites on its sail inflicted by the Carcharodontosaurus.

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Dinosaur Revolution (2011)[]

Spinosaurus was originally planned to make an appearance, But it got scrapped at the end.

Super Sentai (2014)/Power Rangers (2015-16)[]

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Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)[]

NOVA: Bigger Than T. rex (2014)[]

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Top 10 Biggest Beasts Ever (2015)[]

Amazing Dinoworld (2019-2023)[]

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Spinosaurus appears in the cold opening of episode two, strolling along a beach before heading into the water. It initially goes after some fish, but it soon finds itself inder attack from a pliosaur, ending with a victor the latter. Inaccuracies

  • The Spinosaurus seen walking quadrupedally on its front claws, akin to a great ape. However, while for the time being its unknown whether Spinosaurus walked on two or fours, most evidence suggests the former.
    • In addition, the hands seem to be in a kind of diagonal semi-pronated position. All theropods held them in a supinated or inwards-facing position.

History and Design
???
Cultural Significance
???
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Deadly Dinosaurs (2018)[]

Steve with the Spinosaurus hologram

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Example

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Example

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Example

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Example

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Mesozoic Life (Cancelled)[]

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Spinosaurus was going to be one of the main dinosaurs of this series, before it sadly got scrapped due to a low budget.

Inaccuracies: None! this is the very first spinosaurus from a dinosaur documentary to have no inaccuracies!

Gallery:

Spinosaurus 5
Spinoa

Gigantosaurus TV Series (Season 2 2021)[]

Role Spino the Spinosaurus was the Antagonist of the season final of the 2nd season of Gigantosaurus. Inaccuracies

History and Design Some say he’s like a cartoony version of the Spinosaurus from Primeval. Cultural Significance

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Sauria (David Armsby) (2023-2024)[]

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Walking With Dinosaurs (2025)[]

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