National Geographic emails me sometimes.
I think it’s because I read that article about feral hogs building pigloos in Canada.
Yesterday, they emailed me about the Spinosaurus.
Now, I have to admit. I’ve gotten a little lax with my dinosaur knowledge. It peaked around the time I was six, which is a bad indicator for American education. But it sounds like a lot of the discoveries surrounding the Spinosaurus also happened kind of recently, which makes me think I didn’t forget this as much as I never learned it (guess I can’t send my kids to public schools).
This guy was a therapod dinosaur, and a big one, like T-Rexes and Allosauruses and Giganotosauruses. It ate fish. And it did it in one of two cool ways.
You see, this is what National Geographic was emailing me about. And thank goodness they did. Because I needed to know it.
Evidently there’s a new study out about the Spinosaurus, and it’s starting a paleontologist fight.
On one side, you’ve got the paleontologists like Nizar Ibrahim who say the Spinosaurus hunted prey while swimming, using its big ol’ paddle tail like a crocodile, lunging forward and grabbing and brutally slaughtering some unexpecting critter who will wail for help to no avail, his ancestors having long ago evolved to not respond to one another’s wails for help, because the ones who used to respond never got old enough to reproduce (this is why fish don’t scream today).
On the other, you’ve got the paleontologists like Tom Holtz and David Hone who say the Spinosaurus hunted like storks do, wading around and then snapping in and just full-on destroying some unexpecting critter’s family by ripping it out of the water and eating it while it flops around in the air, struggling to breathe.
Both make a strong case. By which I mean both ways sound cool. But the coolest part is how they’re going to settle this.
On November 18th, 2021, Ibrahim, Holtz, and Hone are going to meet in Morocco. Hone will be given a drug that temporarily wipes his memory, and also a fish suit, which he will be asked to wear (Ibrahim and Holtz will probably have to make gentle shushing noises to quell his protests while he puts it on). Ibrahim and Holtz will dress as Spinosauruses. They will then get in the river (I don’t know, pick a river, I’m not Morocco) and hunt Hone. Whichever one catches him wins.
No, just kidding. They’ll probably have a bunch of papers and stuff.
But still fun.
😉