Spino

***Spinosaurus*** ("spined lizard") "**Spino**" was a theropod dinosaur that existed in what is now North Africa, from the Albian to early Cenomanian stages of the Cretaceous Period, about 112 to 97 million years ago. According to recent estimates, *Spinosaurus* is the largest of all known carnivorous dinosaurs, even larger than *Tyrannosaurus rex* and *Giganotosaurus*. These estimates suggest that it was around 16 meters (54 feet) in length and up to 9 tons in weight. This genus was first known from a set of Egyptian remains discovered in 1912 and described in 1915 by German paleontologist and aristocrat Ernst Stromer. These original remains were sadly destroyed in an Allied bombing run over Berlin during World War II, but additional skull material has come to light in recent years. It is unclear whether one or two species are represented in the described fossils. The best-known species is *Spinosaurus aegyptiacus* from Egypt, although a potential second species named *Spinosaurus maroccanus* has been discovered in Morocco in recent times.

## Story

### Creation

*Spinosaurus* was successfully recreated by InGen in the lab on Isla Sorna. Oddly, it was not a dinosaur on InGen's List nor was it planned to be an attraction in Jurassic Park.

The body color of the Spinosaur was a mixture of dark and light gray, a yellowed underbelly, and red splotches around its face, across its back, and at the end of its tail. The sail had blue circles, possibly for attracting the opposite gender. The cloned *Spinosaurus* had two head crests instead of only one like the original, strong jaws, immense strength, thick hide, a bipedal gait, and a more terrestrial lifestyle.

It is unknown how many Spinosaurs were recreated.

### In the wild

When Hurricane Clarissa struck Isla Sorna, the InGen personnel left the island. The Spinosaurs were either set free by the workers or broke out on their own or because the storm had damaged fences, allowing it to roam freely across the island. It was the largest carnivorous dinosaur on Isla Sorna being 43 feet long and 16-19 feet tall.

*Spinosaurus* and the other carnivorous dinosaurs received a good portion of the Lysine they needed by eating herbivores who in turn ate lysine rich plants.

There is only one individual known to have lived on the island. It took residence in the jungles of the northeast and became the apex predator of the region.

### Isla Sorna Incident (2001)

During his time lost on Isla Sorna Eric Kirby learned that though *Tyrannosaurus rex* urine can scare off small dinosaurs like *Compsognathus*, it can also attract *Spinosaurus*.

Amanda Kirby, Eric's mother, attracted a *Spinosaurus* that would follow her and her group throughout the duration of the incident by shouting her missing son's name through a megaphone. Cooper, one of the mercenaries hired by the Kirby family, spotted the large dinosaur and began to fire his gun at it. The attack failed to detour the *Spinosaurus* and the dinosaur injures its attacker's arm. This triggers Cooper's group to desperately attempt to start up their plane so they can leave the island.

Cooper gets in front of the plane as it is about to take off and tries to convince the pilots, Udesky and M.B. Nash, to stop their vehicle so he can escape with them. Sadly, the *Spinosaurus* quickly emerges to the right of the wounded mercenary and proceeds to devour him right when the plane goes airborne. The airplane collides with the Spinosaur's sail just seconds after it takes the life of its first victim. The collision merely injures the large theropod minorly, but the plane crashes into a tree in the surrounding jungle.

The *Spinosaurus* soon finds the rest of Cooper's group inside the damaged airplane, removes the cockpit and grabs ahold of M.B. Nash's leg with its strong jaws, pulling him down. Nash desperately fights against the *Spinosaurus'* grip by grabbing Amanda Kirby's legs but despite his and Udesky's efforts, he was swiftly killed.

The Spinosaur gave out a loud roar that shook the plane violently until it fell out of the tree and onto the ground below. With the passengers now under its feet, the *Spinosaurus* continued its rampage. The Spinosaur then proceeded to roll the already damaged airplane towards it, flatten it with its foot and rammed its head into the remaining portion, searching for the humans inside.

Dr. Alan Grant and his team fled from the wreckage the *Spinosaurus* was scavenging, hoping it would lose sight of them. The *Spinosaurus* was quick to follow and began to chase them throughout the jungle, but a patch of trees blocked it from continuing its pursuit. However, the Spinosaur met up with its prey soon afterward, only this time there was a male sub-adult *Tyrannosaurus rex* chasing them as well.

As soon as the *Spinosaurus* and the *Tyrannosaurus rex* saw each other a conflict ensured. The *Tyrannosaurus* was the first to strike, he clamped down on the Spinosaur's neck using his strong jaws, pinning it to the ground. Nonetheless, the Spinosaur briskly got back on its feet and broke free of the *Tyrannosaurus'* death grip, taking the chance to try and bite its opponent's flanks, with the *T. rex* doing the same as well. The *T. rex* then decided to charge head first into the Spinosaur, pushing it forward, though this left him vulnerable to its next strike.

The *Spinosaurus* bit down on the *Tyrannosaurus'* neck, proceeded to grab it with its arms and snapped it, killing the *Tyrannosaurus rex*. The *Spinosaurus* roared triumphantly as it claimed the carcass of its recent kill. This also allowed the human visitors to finally escape from the vicious Spinosaur, but they would soon encounter it once more throughout the duration of the incident.

When the *Spinosaurus* consumed the mercenaries, their clothes and gear were undigested. The most notable of the objects was Paul Kirby's satellite phone that he gave to Nash, the second victim of *Spinosaurus*, that would ring inside its stomach. Eric Kirby, who had just met Alan Grant, a man hired by the boy's family as a navigate the island in the search to rescue him, heard this ringing of his father's satellite phone and assumed his family was in the area. Though he and Dr. Alan Grant did indeed reunite with his family on the opposite sides of the Isla Sorna Aviary observatory's large perimeter fence, they all were soon aware of the Spinosaur's presence behind them by the discovery that Paul lacked his phone.

As soon as the recently reunited group saw the Spinosaur it began to chase Eric and Alan, but the two reached the other side of the fence by crawling through a hole that was in it. For a brief moment, the predator seemed to have been detoured, unable to get past the fence, until the *Spinosaurus* smashed through the perimeter fence. With their only means of defense against the *Spinosaurus* penetrated, Dr. Alan Grant, the Kirby family, and his colleague Billy Brennan fled towards the Isla Sorna Field Lab. Once inside, Paul Kirby and Alan Grant barricaded the doors right before the *Spinosaurus* could get inside. Unlike the fence that surrounded the laboratory the doors successfully prevented the Spinosaur from going through them. Uninterested, the dinosaur soon left.

The group later reacquired the satellite phone from scavenging through the Spinosaur's dung and the smell of its dung protected them from a *Ceratosaurus* that could have attacked them.

The Spinosaur made one last attempt at killing the humans before the incident ended by stalking their boat they used to escape from the Isla Sorna Aviary from its inhabitants during a thunderstorm that began at night. It swam silently, hidden beneath the deep waters of the river that were rising as the rain from the storm fell, the only indication of its presence being the native Bonitos swimming away in fear of it. Then the *Spinosaurus* began its attack by ramming into the back of the boat, emerged out of the water, and proceeded to severely damage that section. This included the boat's center console, the portion that controls steering. But the most vital that was damaged was the fuel tank that was leaking rapidly.

The Kirby family and Alan Grant locked themselves in a large cage on the watercraft for protection from the *Spinosaurus'* rampage. However, their attempt was rendered futile when the Spinosaur pulled the cage into the water, nearly drowning the people inside as it became submerged. While the Spinosaur thrashed in the water searching for them, the entrapment landed on some rocks, allowing the top portion of the enclosure to surface and giving the trapped humans the oxygen they needed, though the dinosaur quickly used this to its advantage. It put its arm in the cage and grabbed Amanda Kirby, preparing to kill her. But her husband, Paul, who swam out of the cage once it went underwater, successfully distracted the predator by shouting from a half submerged crane he had just climbed. This in turn allowed the others to escape the cage.

With Paul Kirby gaining its full attention, the *Spinosaurus* responded to his calls by giving the crane two nudges with its head, causing Paul Kirby to almost fall into the raging river below, dangling with nothing else to hold on to. Afterward, Dr. Alan Grant found the boat's flare gun in the riverbed near the entrapment and shot the *Spinosaurus* with it. The flare did nothing of harm to its target but once it fell into the water it ignited the petroleum that leaked out of the boat and into the river. Afraid of the fire surrounding it, the Spinosaur fled the area as the crane collapsed around it, ending its involvement in the Isla Sorna Incident of 2001.

## Trivia

* Spino made his first appearance in Blythe's Dinos.