The Spinosaurus is a really well beloved dinosaur, most commonly known from the Jurassic Park 3 film featuring the Spinosaurus as a large apex predator, capable of defeating the great Tyrannosaurus Rex. However, there are many flaws in the details of the Spinosaurus compared to its scientifically accurate counterpart. First off, the Spinosaurus isn’t actually capable to go toe to toe with the Tyrannosaurus Rex, as it didn’t have a strong enough jaw to be able to take bites out of the king of the tyrant lizards. The Spinosaurus was more of a semi-aquatic creature that mostly hunted down fish or smaller dinosaurs, so it couldn’t really fight like it is shown in films.

The Spinosaurus belongs to the Spinosauridae family, which are megalosaurid theropods with slender snouts resembling crocodylians’. Some Spinosauridae had sails on their back that were likely used for thermoregulation, similar to the Stegosaurus plates, which is still up for debate; They could have also been used for display. The crocodile-like skulls with conical teeth show how these theropods likely fed on fish (piscivorous), although some may have also fed on other dinosaurs. The Spinosaurus and the Baryonyx are more of a well known species of this family. However, there are many others that fall into the same category, for example: Irritator, Suchomimus, and Ichthyovenator.