Jurassic Park Species Gets New Specimen

The massive spinosaurus that played a major role in the most recent Jurassic Park films has a new cousin. 

Spinosaurus mirabilis is the first of its species to be found in more than a hundred years. It was as long as a school bus and had a foot-long horn atop its head. The fossils were first unearthed in Niger in 2019. A team of paleontologists from the University of Chicago excavated the fossils from the site. Then they reconstructed what they found. They published their findings in the journal Science.  

The predator had a long, narrow jaw. Its mouth was filled with razor-sharp teeth. Its name means "astonishing spine lizard." The movie version seems to target humans. But research shows that S mirabilis ate mostly fish.   

“I envision this dinosaur as a kind of ‘hell heron’," Paul Sereno told The Independent. He co-authored the study. "(It) probably spent most of its time stalking shallower traps for the many large fish of the day." 

The area where the fossils were found is now part of the Sahara Desert. But the region had rivers filled with life during the mid-Cretaceous period, about 90 million years ago. Other spinosaurus fossils have mostly been found near coastlines. It's rare to find one inland along rivers. The find suggests that they may have been more widespread than once thought. That would be a chilling notion for the casts of the Jurassic Park films, no doubt.    

Reflect: Think about how scientists are still discovering new things about the world. What are some questions you have about things we don’t know yet?

Photo of an illustration of a male Spinosaurus Mirabilis from Wikimedia Commons courtesy of Flutua.