We all love the Spinosaurus and admire its beautiful sail. But nowadays, a bunch of heretics are comparing the Spinosaurus Sail with the Bison hump, and this resulted in some, at least funny, conversations around dinosaur fan communities. Some even were brave or stupid enough to compare to a chonky creature called Blurrg from The Mandalorian.
While the image is quite funny, I give it that, it sparked a genuine debate: Was the Spinosaurus a sleek, sail-backed predator, or was it carrying a massive bison-like hump? To be honest, I am far from any heretical thoughts regarding the look of the mighty Spinosaurus, but there is more than enough data that proves that the Spinosaurus was not actually a giant, scary meatball.
The theory that Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus had a hump usually stems from a comparison to modern mammals, specifically the Bison.
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When you look at a bison skeleton, it features tall neural spines rising from its vertebrae. In the mammal world, these spines usually serve as anchor points for powerful muscles and ligaments designed to support a heavy head. Because Spinosaurus also possesses incredibly tall neural spines, some have suggested they were meant to support a fatty hump or muscle mass, thus rethinking it as a chonkier creature, which does not seem such a scary river monster anymore.
But why the Hump Theory doesn’t hold up?
While the comparison to a bison can somehow seems like a good one, there is one very major difference, and it is the biomechanics of both creatures, and the fact that it does not match up even a bit.
The first and most prominent difference is the lack of attachment points at the Spinosaurus fosils. The spine of the Spinosaurus does not have the specific bone texture and attachment sites required to anchor the heavy muscle or fat deposits seen in the humped animals.
Second main difference is the head size. In creatures like the bison, a hump is a functional necessity to keep a massive, heavy head from dragging on the ground. The Spinosaurus head, despite its obvious length, had a relatively narrow, croc-like head that wasn’t nearly heavy enough to justify such a massive muscular support system on its back.
Last but not least, the bones in the Spinosaurus’s back were thin and flat, much more consistent with supporting a thin “sail” of skin and blood vessels rather than a dense mound of flesh.
The jury’s decision is: It is a Majestic Sail
So, maybe you are wondering, if it was not a hump, what was the sail for? The paleontologists are still debating the exact function, and the leading theories include thermoregulation for regulating body temperature. It still is a crocodile predecessor, no wonder that theory sounds plausable. Alternatively, it might have been only for showing off in front of other Spinosauruses or for intimidating its rivals.
The Spinosaurus was an incredible, specialized predator, but it definitely was not a “Blurrg.” It was a streamlined hunter, perfectly adapted for life near rivers or larger bodies of water. So please, let’s not take off the crown of one of the most iconic dinosaurs
My name is Stoyan, but in the dinosaur community, I’m often known as DinoDaddy. As the creator of JurassicDNA.com, I manage the world’s largest free DNA code database for the Jurassic World™ Play App.
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