Spinosaurus in the Sahara: Unveiling Africa's Semi-Aquatic Giant and the Lost Dinosaur Ecosystems

In this interview with palaeontologist Niza Ibrahim, the extraordinary Spinosaurus takes centre stage as a key to rewriting dinosaur history. The discussion traces the creature from its Saharan origins to the modern discoveries that reveal a crocodile like skull, an immense sail of long spines, and a paddle shaped tail indicating an aquatic lifestyle. Ibrahim explains why Africa is a frontier for dinosaur science, how the Kemkem beds in the Sahara preserve a riverine ecosystem with giants, and how bone density and digital modelling are used to test hypotheses about lifestyle. The conversation also covers the public role of science communication through Walking with Dinosaurs and the ongoing expeditions that seek to complete this amazing dinosaur story.

Introduction: Spinosaurus, the Holy Grail of Dinosaur Palaeontology

New Scientist speaks with Niza Ibrahim, a palaeontologist and comparative anatomist, about Spinosaurus, Africa's hidden fossil record, and how new discoveries are transforming our picture of dinosaurs. Spinosaurus is introduced as a giant, largely aquatic predator with a croc like jaw, a sail of ridiculously long spines, and a tail adapted for life in water. Ibrahim explains why this dinosaur remains central to debates about dinosaur ecology and evolution and how recent finds challenge the long standing view of dinosaurs as land dwellers alone.

Africa as a Frontier for Dinosaur Research

The conversation emphasizes Africa as a historically underrepresented region in dinosaur paleontology. Ibrahim argues that Africa, and particularly the Sahara, holds a wealth of fossils that can reveal entire ecosystems across the middle Cretaceous. The Sahara is described not only as a desert but as a complex, geologically rich landscape with river systems that once supported a vast biodiversity, including giant predators and riverine fish.

The Kemkem Beds: A Window into an Ancient River System

Ibrahim describes the Kemkem plateau on the Moroccan Algerian border which preserves rocks about 100 million years old from a riverine environment. The site captures evidence of a delta like landscape with a huge river network, hosting turtles, crocodilians, lungfish, giant predators, and dinosaurs along its margins. This setting contrasts with today’s perception of the Sahara as merely sand, revealing a prehistoric world of abundant life that stretched from modern Morocco to Egypt.

The Spinosaurus Discovery Story: From Morocco to an Italian Basement

The narrative recounts how a local Moroccan fossil hunter found bones that would eventually be linked to Spinosaurus. After the bones were moved to a university collection in Casablanca, researchers later learned of a partial skeleton in an Italian museum basement. The team faced challenges tying the bones to one animal and to a single site, but persistent detective work led to recognizing the Moroccan bones as the same species and location. The resulting skeleton is described as the most complete predatory dinosaur known from mainland Africa, enabling a fuller reconstruction of this remarkable animal.

Anatomy, Adaptation, and Evidence for an Aquatic Lifestyle

Central to the story is the anatomy that signals a semi aquatic life. The Spinosaurus features a narrow crocodile like snout, conical teeth for catching slippery prey, and a paddle shaped tail with long spines that suggest propulsion through water. The hind limbs are relatively short, and other features imply substantial time spent submerged. Ibrahim notes that the discovery opens a window onto a river of giants with dense predators and a highly aquatic niche, challenging the idea that dinosaurs were strictly terrestrial carnivores.

Bone Density, Modelling, and Verifying the Lifestyle Hypothesis

Beyond external anatomy, the team investigates bone density, comparing Spinosaurus to modern aquatic animals such as manatees and penguins. The Nature paper on bone density supports buoyancy control and sub aquatic foraging. The researchers also built digital models of the skeleton, enabling tests of locomotion in water and on land and comparing the Spinosaurus tail to other tails, such as those of crocs and newts, to quantify potential aquatic performance. These quantitative analyses provide a strong case for a highly aquatic or semi aquatic lifestyle rather than a purely terrestrial hunter.

Comparative Anatomy, Digital Tools, and the Scientific Method

The interview explores how comparative anatomy and digital tools, including finite element analysis and robotic tail models, help test functional hypotheses. Ibrahim describes collaborations with Harvard researchers to create a robotic tail that can be evaluated for propulsion efficiency, offering an empirical test of the paddle tail hypothesis. He discusses the need to balance fossil constraints with modern analogies and emphasizes that while some degree of speculation exists in reconstructions, robust data from bones and biomechanics guide the interpretations.

Public Engagement, Walking with Dinosaurs, and Science Communication

Beyond pure science, the conversation addresses the role of popular media in science communication. Ibrahim discusses Walking with Dinosaurs as a platform to illustrate contemporary understanding of how dinosaurs behaved, their complexity, and their relation to living birds. He argues that these reconstructions should reflect the evolving science while engaging and inspiring the public, highlighting the ongoing tension between imagination and evidence in paleoart and cinema.

Future Expeditions and the Ongoing Story

The interview ends with a look to the future, including plans for fieldwork in Africa and other regions such as Romania and even the United States. Ibrahim hints at other iconic dinosaurs in the pipeline, such as Triceratops and T rex projects, underscoring the breadth of his team’s fieldwork across the globe and the enduring excitement of paleontological exploration.

Conclusion: Deep Time and Human Understanding

Throughout the discussion, the deep time perspective remains central. The Spinosaurus story, like all paleontology, frames our understanding of evolution, biomechanics, and the limits of inference while reminding us that modern humans carry a long evolutionary lineage in our anatomy. The Sahara, with its river systems, becomes a stage for a lost world and a powerful metaphor for how science builds knowledge piece by piece through fieldwork, bones, and creative modelling.