Spino ... swam :)

Intensity plus, Spinosaurus was the largest semi-aquatic predator in history, feasting on fish and other such fauna residing in huge lakes in Northern Africa around 95 million years ago. Seems Spino had a tail, a big one, meaning this bad boy probably swam after prey as per the modern crocs of today.

An enigmatic predatory dinosaur that lived in northern Africa about 95 million years ago possessed a long, powerful tail that may have propelled it through water, new fossils suggest.

If true, this beast, close to 40 feet long and not yet fully grown when it died, was a rarity: a dinosaur that swam.

“What we have here is a dinosaur that was not just a wader but an animal that was actively pursuing prey in the water column,” said Nizar Ibrahim, a professor of biology at the University of Detroit Mercy in Michigan.

And this.

Described today in the journal Nature, this tail is the most extreme aquatic adaptation ever seen in a large dinosaur. Its discovery in Morocco stretches our understanding of how one of Earth’s most dominant groups of land animals lived and thrived.

Now, with evidence from the newly analyzed tail, there’s a strong case that Spinosaurus didn’t merely flirt with the shore but was capable of full-fledged aquatic movement. Collectively, the findings published today suggest the giant Spinosaurus spent plenty of time underwater, perhaps hunting prey like a massive crocodile. “This tail is unambiguous,” says team member Samir Zouhri, a paleontologist at the Université Hassan II. “This dinosaur was swimming.”

Intensity + indeed.

Addendum: Check here to see how Spino actually moved in the water. Croclike without question. :)