Suchomimus

"It's a superpredator. Suchomimus?"—Billy Brennan

Suchomimus ("crocodile mimic") was a Spinosaurid dinosaur. It seems to be a close relative to Spinosaurus, and looks very similar to this star of Jurassic Park 3. Suchomimus, however, lacked the tall spines and fin of its movie star cousin since it's vertebrae were much smaller.

"It was a dinosaur trying hard to be a crocodile," says paleontologist Paul Sereno after he discovered a Suchomimus tenerensis during a expedition to Africa. It had a long snout filled with teeth that seem designed to catch fish. Long, powerful arms ended in three-fingered hands with huge claws, which would have been useful for holding on to large gar fish, which may have made up part of its diet. Suchomimus lived 100 million years ago and this skeleton is the most complete in existence of any of the spinosaur family of dinosaurs. The original Spinosaurus skeleton was destroyed in WWII when a museum in Berlin was destroyed by Allied bombers.

Other paleontologists say that the discovery of Suchomimus is important as it illustrates the diversity of dinosaurs. In particular, this discovery illustrates that a large carnivore that lived on land could survive eating mostly fish.

Jurassic Park Series
It was mentioned by Billy Brennan in Jurassic Park III as what he thought the Spinosaurus, implying it was on the InGen list.

Jurassic Park inspired games

 * Suchomimus made an appearance in the PSX game Warpath: Jurassic Park. It's primary stage is the visitor gate from Isla Nublar. In the game in was code named "Sucho". If one looks closely, it's head resembles the Baryonyx's head from The Lost World: Jurassic Park (console game).




 * In Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, Suchomimus can be made by modifying Spinosaurus (as pictured to the lower right). This can also be done to make a Baryonyx.