Spinosaurus

***Spinosaurus*** (meaning "spine lizard", from Latin *spina* and Greek *sauros*) appears as a dangerous pointable animal in *Carnivores 2* and *Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter*.

## Biology

*Spinosaurus* is a large semiaquatic carnivore, feeding on fish and smaller animals. *Spinosaurus* means "spiny lizard" due to the series of neural spines up to 6 feet (1.8 m) long protruding from its vertebrae. Despite being very large, it is incredibly agile; the FMM UV-32 species is also proportioned very differently from the earth species enabling faster speed. It maintains the speed and jumping ability of *Velociraptor* and combined with the stamina of *Allosaurus*, signaling that this animal is extremely powerful. FMM UV-32's *Spinosaurus* is noticeably different than Earth's. Namely, the smaller variant of the FMM UV-32 species is much smaller, rarely exceeding 18 feet in length, still large as far as the predators of the planet go. Meanwhile, Earth's *Spinosaurus* was enormous, exceeding 15 meters in length and 9 tons in weight, even larger than *Tyrannosaurus*. However, FMM UV-32's smaller variety of the dinosaur makes up for being smaller by being much more aggressive and dangerous. Earth's *Spinosaurus* was thought to have been 60 feet long and primarily piscivorous, wading in prehistoric swamps and snapping up any large aquatic prey that swam by. By contrast, the *Spinosaurus* of FMM UV-32 is a powerful, intelligent, and active hunter of large herbivorous dinosaurs. Despite this ferocity, it seems relatively scared of humans. It will flee if approached from a distance.
Being a spinosaurid dinosaur, the skull of *Spinosaurus* is long and narrow, similar to those of modern crocodilians, and lends credence to the idea that it may have been primarily a piscivore; there is also evidence that it lived both on land and in water. The animal's most distinctive feature, though, is the spine on its back, formed from extensions of the vertebrae, reaching as much as 1.65 meters (5.4 feet) in height, and likely covered with connective skin or possibly a fatty hump. The purpose of this spine is unknown, with theories including display or controlling the animal's body temperature.

### Coloration

*Spinosaurus* is one of the few animals known from FMM UV-32 to have varying skin colors between individuals, something that it shares in common with *Dimetrodon*. Different animals come in two colors: Olive green with orange spots, to a pale color with very faint orange spots.

## Target Zone

*Spinosaurus* have a health value of 12 and require many shots from most weapons to kill or sedate them, usually while charging at the hunter.

## Behavior

*Spinosaurus* is relatively hard to hunt due to a few, well pointed aspects. Unlike a *Ceratosaurus* or a *Tyrannosaurus*, *Spinosaurus* will run away if it catches the hunter's scent, often towards water to swim as far away as possible. If it is very close to the hunter before smelling them, though, *Spinosaurus* is much more likely to give chase and attack.

## Similarities to *Allosaurus* and *Velociraptor*

    Many players have noted the similarity between the AI of the *Spinosaurus* and the *Allosaurus*, the only difference being that *Spinosaurus* will occasionally stop to sniff the air. In addition, the small *Spinosaurus* and *Allosaurus* are identical in size. These facts strongly suggest that the *Spinosaurus* was based on the *Allosaurus* when it was added. It should also be mentioned that the *Spinosaurus* is able to spawn on maps even if not selected to hunt,just like the *Velociraptor* in *Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter*.

While the old *Spinosaurus* is visually the same size as the *Allosaurus*, its in game weight and length in *Carnivores 2* are the exact same as the *Velociraptor*. Small *Spinosaurus*' in-game description states the lengths are very similar, but it should weigh much more than it actually does. The in-game description also states: "Take the speed of a *Velociraptor* and combine it with the perseverance of *Allosaurus*, and you get the *Spinosaurus*. This is fixed in *Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter*. Like *Allosaurus*, it is much smaller in *Carnivores 2* than in real life. In a recent update for Android and IOS, the *Spinosaurus*' size was updated to quite a larger size, but it was changed to the original another time.

## *Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter*

Like most animals in *Carnivores 2*, *Spinosaurus* re-appears *Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter*. However, like the *Dimetrodon*, the animal's color was changed. There has been no specified reason why this was done.﻿ However, it is possible it has to do with transparency problems the original skin on the *Spinosaurus* had in 3DFX and D3D mode.

In the Android version of *Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter*, the *Spinosaurus* is seen with its original coloration from *Carnivores 2*.

As of the September 11, 2015 iOS update, the *Spinosaurus* received an update to its size. According to the hunt menu, the *Spinosaurus* can now range from 41 to 74 feet long, and weigh up to 40 tons. This makes it the largest carnivore on the planet, and the largest animal. While the update increased the size of *Spinosaurus*, no changes were made to its AI, anatomy or coloration. In the most recent update, the *Spinosaurus* has is normal size again , but the stats aren't the originals.

## Trivia

* *Spinosaurus* was planed to return in *Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter HD* for add-ons or expansions but was cut before the game released.

## In-game description

 Weight
 Diet
 Points
 Cost

## External links

* For information regarding its role in the Continuum Canon, see *Spinosaurus*.

1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyDGOvmfQuQ