Spinosaurus

"It's a superpredator."

- Billy Brennan

Spinosaurus ("spined lizard") was a theropod dinosaur that existed in what is now North Africa, from the Albian to early Cenomanian stages of the Cretaceous Period, about 112 to 97 million years ago. According to recent estimates, Spinosaurus is the largest of all known carnivorous dinosaurs, even larger than Tyrannosaurus rex and Giganotosaurus. These estimates suggest that it was around 16 meters (54 feet) in length and up to 9 tons in weight. This genus was first known from a set of Egyptian remains discovered in 1912 and described in 1915 by German paleontologist and aristocrat Ernst Stromer. These original remains were sadly destroyed in an Allied bombing run over Berlin during World War II, but additional skull material has come to light in recent years. It is unclear whether one or two species are represented in the described fossils. The best-known species is Spinosaurus aegyptiacus from Egypt, although a potential second species named Spinosaurus maroccanus has been discovered in Morocco in recent times.

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Creation
Spinosaurus was successfully recreated by InGen in the lab on Isla Sorna. Oddly, it was not a dinosaur on InGen's List nor was it planned to be an attraction in Jurassic Park. The recreation of Spinosaurus seemed to have gone unnoticed by InGen, probably mistaking the juveniles of it for Baryonyx or Suchomimus, relatives of Spinosaurus that were set to live in their respected paddocks in Jurassic Park. This assumption might suggest that its trademark sail is something that develops as it matures.

The body color of the Spinosaur was a mixture of dark and light gray, a yellowed underbelly, and red splotches around its face, across its back, and at the end of its tail. The sail had blue circles, possibly for attracting the opposite gender.

The cloned Spinosaurus had many differences from its original counterpart. These include: having two head crests instead of one, stronger jaws, immense strength, thicker hide, and longer legs, making it taller and giving it a more terrestrial lifestyle.

It is unknown how many Spinosaurs were recreated.

In the wild
When Hurricane Clarissa struck Isla Sorna, the InGen personnel left the island. The Spinosaurs were either set free by the workers or broke out on their own or because the storm had damaged fences, allowing it to roam freely across the island. It was the largest carnivorous dinosaur on Isla Sorna being 43 feet long and 16-19 feet tall.

Spinosaurus and the other carnivorous dinosaurs received the Lysine they needed by eating herbivores who in turn ate lysine rich plants.

There is only one individual known to have lived on the island. It took residence in the jungles of the northeast and became the apex predator of the region.

Isla Sorna Incident (2001)
During his time lost on Isla Sorna Eric Kirby learned that though Tyrannosaurus rex urine can scare off small dinosaurs like Compsognathus, it can also attract Spinosaurus.

Amanda Kirby, Eric's mother, attracted a Spinosaurus that would follow her and her group throughout the duration of the incident by shouting her missing son's name through a megaphone. Cooper, one of the mercenaries hired by the Kirby family, spotted the large dinosaur and began to fire his gun at it. The attack failed to detour the Spinosaurus and the dinosaur injures its attacker's arm. This triggers Cooper's group to desperately attempt to start up their plane so they can leave the island. Cooper gets in front of the plane as it is about to take off and tries to convince the pilots, Udesky and M.B. Nash, to stop their vehicle so he can escape with them. Sadly, the Spinosaurus quickly emerges to the right of the wounded mercenary and proceeds to devour him right when the plane goes airborne. The airplane collides with the Spinosaur's sail just seconds after it takes the life of its first victim. The collision merely injures the large theropod minorly, but the plane crashes into a tree in the surrounding jungle.

The Spinosaurus soon finds the rest of Cooper's group inside the damaged airplane, removes the cockpit and grabs ahold of M.B. Nash's leg with its strong jaws, pulling him down. Nash desperately fights against the Spinosaurus' grip by grabbing Amanda Kirby's legs but despite his and Udesky's efforts, he was swiftly killed.

The Spinosaur gave out a loud roar that shook the plane violently until it fell out of the tree and onto the ground below. With the passengers now under its feet, the Spinosaurus continued its rampage. The Spinosaur then proceeded to roll the already damaged airplane towards it, flatten it with its foot, and rammed its head into the remaining portion, searching for the humans inside.

Dr. Alan Grant and his team fled from the wreckage the Spinosaurus was scavenging, hoping it would lose sight of them. The Spinosaurus was quick to follow and began to chase them through the jungle, but a patch of trees blocked it from continuing its pursuit. However, the Spinosaur met up with its prey soon afterward, only this time there was a male sub-adult Tyrannosaurus rex chasing them as well.

As soon as the Spinosaurus and the Tyrannosaurus rex saw each other a conflict ensured. The Tyrannosaurus was the first to strike, he clamped down on the Spinosaur's neck using his strong jaws, pinning it to the ground. Nonetheless, the Spinosaur briskly got back on its feet and broke free of the Tyrannosaurus' death grip, taking the chance to try and bite its opponent's flanks, with the T. rex doing the same as well. The T. rex then decided to charge head first into the Spinosaur, pushing it forward, though this left him vulnerable to its next strike.

The Spinosaurus bit down on the Tyrannosaurus' neck, proceeded to grab it with its arms and snapped it, killing the Tyrannosaurus rex. The Spinosaurus roared triumphantly as it claimed the carcass of its recent kill. This also allowed the human visitors to finally escape from the vicious Spinosaur, but they would soon encounter it once more throughout the duration of the incident. When the Spinosaurus consumed the mercenaries, their clothes and gear were undigested. The most notable of the objects was Paul Kirby's satellite phone that he gave to Nash, the second victim of Spinosaurus, that would ring inside its stomach. Eric Kirby, who had just met Alan Grant, a man hired by the boy's family as a navigate the island in the search to rescue him, heard this ringing of his father's satellite phone and assumed his family was in the area. Though he and Dr. Alan Grant did indeed reunite with his family on the opposite sides of the Isla Sorna Aviary observatory's large perimeter fence, they all were soon aware of the Spinosaur's presence behind them by the discovery that Paul lacked his phone. As soon as the recently reunited group saw the Spinosaur it began to chase Eric and Alan, but the two reached the other side of the fence by crawling through a hole that was in it. For a brief moment, the predator seemed to have been detoured, unable to get past the fence, until the Spinosaurus smashed through the perimeter fence. With their only means of defense against the Spinosaurus penetrated, Dr. Alan Grant, the Kirby family, and his colleague Billy Brennan fled towards the Isla Sorna Field Lab. Once inside, Paul Kirby and Alan Grant barricaded the doors right before the Spinosaurus could get inside. Unlike the fence that surrounded the laboratory the doors successfully prevented the Spinosaur from going through them. Uninterested, the dinosaur soon left.

The group later reacquired the satellite phone from scavenging through the Spinosaur's dung and the smell of its dung protected them from a Ceratosaurus that could have attacked them.

The Spinosaur made one last attempt at killing the humans before the incident ended by stalking their boat they used to escape from the Isla Sorna Aviary from its inhabitants during a thunderstorm that began at night. It swam silently, hidden beneath the deep waters of the river that were rising as the rain from the storm fell, the only indication of its presence being the native s swimming away in fear of it. Then the Spinosaurus began its attack by ramming into the back of the boat, emerged out of the water, and proceeded to severely damage that section. This included the boat's center console, the portion that controls steering. But the most vital that was damaged was the fuel tank that was leaking rapidly.

The Kirby family and Alan Grant locked themselves in a large cage on the watercraft for protection from the Spinosaurus' rampage. However, their attempt was rendered futile when the Spinosaur pulled the cage into the water, nearly drowning the people inside as it became submerged. While the Spinosaur thrashed in the water searching for them, the entrapment landed on some rocks, allowing the top portion of the enclosure to surface and giving the trapped humans the oxygen they needed, though the dinosaur quickly used this to its advantage. It put its arm in the cage and grabbed Amanda Kirby, preparing to kill her. But her husband, Paul, who swam out of the cage once it went underwater, successfully distracted the predator by shouting from a half submerged crane he had just climbed. This in turn allowed the others to escape the cage.

With Paul Kirby gaining its full attention, the Spinosaurus responded to his calls by giving the crane two nudges with its head, causing Paul Kirby to almost fall into the raging river below, dangling with nothing else to hold on to. Afterward, Dr. Alan Grant found the boat's flare gun in the riverbed near the entrapment and shot the Spinosaurus with it. The flare did nothing of harm to its target but once it fell into the water it ignited the petroleum that leaked out of the boat and into the river. Afraid of the fire surrounding it, the Spinosaur fled the area as the crane collapsed around it, ending its involvement in the Isla Sorna Incident of 2001.

Jurassic World
Spinosaurus appears in the new Jurassic World park. Though not technically seen, two skeletons of the Spinosaurus are mounted near the Main Street and at the Masrani Global Corporation building. According to one rumor, Stan Winston's son, Matt Winston had said Spinosaurus was going to appear in the fourth movie. It rumored also by many fans that because of the skeletons seen in the park that Spinosaurus might as well make an alive appearance.

Production and development
Originally Baryonyx was supposed to be the main dinosaur in the film, but it was replaced by Spinosaurus because Baryonyx was too small. Many scenes of Spinosaurus were cut from the third film due to the filming schedule, the film's pacing and other reasons, such as a scene where Spinosaurus emerged out of the water during its attack on the group's boat, more footage of its fight with T. rex, and being killed by the film's pack of Velociraptors. Also, one of the alternate endings included a battle between Spinosaurus and the Marines.

Spinosaurus is a controversial dinosaur in the Jurassic Park franchise because of its portrayal in Jurassic Park III. Particularly when it was shown to be more powerful than the fan favorite Tyrannosaurus rex.

Trivia

 * It is the second theropod to battle a T. rex in the movies. The first were the Velociraptors from the first film, although they lost.
 * The ringing of the phone in the Spinosaurus's stomach is likely a homage to the crocodile from Peter Pan, whom had swallowed an alarm clock that went off every time it was near, thus alerting others to it presence.
 * If the fans listen closely and are good at hearing, the Spinosaurus uses some of the sounds of the Suchomimus from Warpath: Jurassic Park, and the Carnotaurus from Disney's Dinosaurs, this is highly proven since sound designer, Christopher Boyes previously worked on Disney film a year ago.
 * A Spinosaurus skeleton is mounted in Main Street of Jurassic World and another located in a Masrani Global Corporation office.
 * It is also on the dinosaurs included in the Holoscape of Innovation Center, though it is unknown if Spinosaurus actually lives in Jurassic World.
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Jurassic Park Adventures: Flyers
In Jurassic Park Adventures: Flyers, Dr. Alan Grant and other Jurassic Park Rangers capture a male Spinosaurus that was eradicating other dinosaur species in its territory and relocated him to an isolated area on Isla Sorna to increase the populations that had been diminished by the Spinosaurus. Roger Hearne, the spokesperson of the organization, showed displeasure towards Alan and his team's actions saying that they should have spend at least some of their time researching the immune systems of dinosaurs.

Trivia
The Spinosaurus has appeared in all games based on Jurassic Park III.
 * The image of the Spinosaurus seen in the first chapter of Jurassic Park Adventures: Flyers was reused from the Dinopedia of the Jurassic Park Institute website.
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Warpath: Jurassic Park
Before its appearance in the movie series, Spinosaurus appeared in the video game Warpath: Jurassic Park for the PSX.

Here, due to the game being made before recent scientific discoveries, the Spinosaurus has a body shape more similar to that of an Allosaurus rather than it's current, scientifically accurate, crocodilian-like features. Also, its attack patterns were the same as the Megaraptor. This is because the original Spinosaurus fossil was destroyed during Allied bombing raids on Berlin in WWII. Its colors are sapphire, crimson/golden yellow, and orange and its battle stage is the embryo laboratory.

Jurassic Park III: The DNA Factor
The Spinosaurus appears as the boss of Jurassic Park III: The DNA Factor's penultimate stage. During the stage, the player is running through the tops of several trees, and the Spinosaurus chases the player and tries repeatedly to bite. To damage it, the player must pick up some of the bombs in the area and throw them at the rampaging reptile. Sometimes the Spinosaurus crouches down under the trees and lunges up with its sail.

Jurassic Park III: Park Builder
Spinosaurus is a Carnivore Three that can be created in Jurassic Park III: Park Builder.

Jurassic Park Operation Genesis
see Spinosaurus/Operation Genesis

Spinosaurus can be seen in all its neck-snapping glory in Operation Genesis as a five-star large carnivore. Spinosaurus is the largest carnivore in JPOG. It has the ability to kill any dinosaur (with the exception of Brachiosaurus due to its immense size), and it wishes to fight or eat if it has the strength or courage. The Spinosaurus whenever coming out of its' hatchery is almost always inspecting for other dinosaurs to claim territory. Whenever meeting a T. rex it tends to whack its mouth in a territorial manner to drive it away and when it doesn't it engages in a death duel. The two can coexist briefly but sooner or later, they will end up competing for territory very violently.

Jurassic Park: Island Attack
Spinosaurus appears twice in this Jurassic Park: Island Attack, but it's more of a stage hazard then an enemy. It can't be killed and will just chase the player until a certain point in the stage is reached. It is first encountered at the beginning of the game, and then later at the climax.

Jurassic Park III: Dino Defender
Spinosaurus appears around 3 times in Jurassic Park III: Dino Defender. It can be seen fighting a T. rex near the end of the game.

Jurassic Park III: Danger Zone!
Spinosaurus appears anytime in the Jurassic Park III: Danger Zone!.

Jurassic Park: Survival
The Spinosaurus was to have appeared in the scrapped game Jurassic Park: Survival as a key enemy.

Jurassic Park: Builder
see Spinosaurus/Builder

Spinosaurus is one of the available dinosaurs in the IOS application, Jurassic Park: Builder.

Spinosaurus appears in the toy lines The Lost World Series 1, Jurassic Park III Hasbro toy line and Kaiyodo toy line, CamoXtreme, and Jurassic Park 2K9.
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Because The Lost World Series 1 was released before recent scientific discoveries, the Spinosaurus here is very inaccurate. It also has a different code name, "Slice". It is way too small, could possibly be a juvenile and features the outdated megalosaur-like head. The toy from the third movie is more accurate with its crocodile-like head. It came in two sizes, one in the same size as The Lost World version, and a larger one.

A new Spinosaurus was made for the new Jurassic World toy line and is set for a 2015 release.