Expert: David Prus - 6/19/2009

Question
Hello my name is sammie and I'm 10 and I have a few questions that need an experts answer and that person will have to be a paleontologist(I'm sorry if I spelled it wrong...).I completely love dinosaurs and here are some questions:   1.Could Spinosaurs kill "the fearsome predator X?   2.Did Spinosaurs have the biggest skull size ever know to man?   3.Is Spinosaurs the biggest meat-eater ever known?   Spinosaurs is my fave. dinosaurs and I must any answer.

Answer
Well, Sam, I'm not a paleontologist but I can certainly help you.

1. Spinosaurus could probably kill a large marine predator such as the pliosaur "Predator X" in shallow water. In deeper waters, the aquatic animal could swim circles around and kill the dinosaur

2. Not quite. Spinosaurus had a 6-foot skull, but Torosaurus had a 9-foot skull and the modern Sperm whale has the biggest head ever at 16 feet long

3. Spinosaurus was the largest land predator, but the largest technical meat eater is the blue whale. The largest predator of big prey was the giant icthyosaur Shonisaurus at 70 feet long and some sperm whales in the 18th century at about 70 to 80 feet (whaling has reduced the size of the average individual to 50 to 60 feet).

I hope this helps