Jurassic Park dinosaur "star" is in the building!
The latest dino blockbuster, Jurassic Park III, features a new villain -- Spinosaurus, a rival to the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex. A highlight of the movie is a dino-style "Rumble in the Jungle" between these two carnivores.
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While much is understood about T. rex, scientists know less about Spinosaurus, mainly because so few of its bones have been discovered. From these few bones, several species of Spinosaurus have been identified. The Canadian Museum of Nature has several Spinosaurus bones in its collections -- making it one of only a few museums in the world with remains of this latest dino "star".
"We have some vertebrae, teeth and a few other bones of Spinosaurus in our collections," says Dr. Steve Cumbaa, head of palaeobiology at Nature. "They were acquired a few years ago from a collector who'd dug them up in Morocco. Fossil experts who come to our museum are usually impressed if they find out that we have bones of Spinosaurus." When he was with Nature, dinosaur expert Dr. Dale Russell identified a new species, Spinosaurus maroccanus, based on some of these bones.
The most complete skeleton of Spinosaurus was destroyed during a Second World War bombing raid on Munich, Germany. The bones had been uncovered by German palaeontologist Ernst Stromer in Egypt during the early part of that century. In contrast, the fossil record for T. rex is much more complete, with a number of skeletons mounted and on display in museums around the world.
Our knowledge of Spinosaurus is left to written descriptions and drawings of the original skeleton, and to a scattering of individual bones such as the ones owned by the Canadian Museum of Nature and a few other museums. We can only speculate about some key characteristics of Spinosaurus -- whether it would have walked on all fours or on two feet, and whether it had a dorsal "sail" on its back (as portrayed in the movie) or more of a "buffalo hump" (as seen in a bison).
We do know that Spinosaurus was longer but slimmer than T. rex, and had long, crocodile-like jaws with big teeth. Some experts believe that it was a fish-eater, preying on large fishes in the shallow lagoonal waters that covered parts of North Africa at that time. Nature's fossil collection includes bones of a 3-metre-long coelacanth and a large gar-like fish that were found in the same 95-million-year-old deposits as the bones of Spinosaurus.
The many unanswered questions about Spinosaurus continue to tantalize the imaginations of dino-enthusiasts. Until more fossils are discovered, moviegoers can enjoy the imaginings of the animated encounter with this enigmatic dinosaur.
In Jurassic Park III the captive pterosaurs manage to escape from their cage, and nothing can stop them from fleeing the remote island. Two of these giant winged reptiles once "flew" in the museum's atrium. These days, you can read the amazing story of the sculptures and learn about the prehistoric animals while you're at it! |
