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Re: Spinosaurus redescribed as giant semiaquatic theropod



John Schneiderman  <john-schneiderman@cox.net> wrote:

> With its very visible dorsal sail, Spinosaurus would not make a good ambush 
> predator. Instead
> it most likely scavenged terrestrial creatures or made good use of a watering 
> spot/crossing
> when terrestrial prey were overcrowded or in crisis.


_Spinosaurus_ attacks on terrestrial prey might have been quite rare,
if this predator spent most of its time in water.  It is possible that
land animals could have been attacked opportunistically when they
entered the water if they needed to traverse the delta for some
reason, such as during an annual migration.  (This is the
crocodile/wildebeest analogy.)

Another hypothesis is that _Spinosaurus_ predated predominantly on
aquatic prey (fishes of various sorts).  This is the hypothesis
favored in the recent re-description.  One highly speculative idea is
that _Spinosaurus_ hunted cooperatively, with the dorsal sail used to
help 'herd' prey underwater.






Cheers
Tim