Suchomimus One of the spinosaurids that stalked the lush Cretaceous swamps was Suchomimus. It was as big as Tyrannosaurus and would stand in or wade through the water to catch a passing  sh, snapping it up with its mouth or spearing it with its massive thumb claws. With its long jaws and sharp teeth, it was the perfect swamp predator. DINOSAURS AND BIRDS AND DINOSAURS

Breathing easy Suchomimus’s nostrils were set a long way back from the tip of its snout. is allowed it to breathe while feeding underwater or when scavenging inside the body of a dead dinosaur. 251 million years ago 200 145 65 DINOSAURS AND BIRDS Triassic Jurassic Cretaceous

Suchomimus Desert  nd soo-ko-MIME-us In 1997 scientists found a remarkably complete Suchomimus skeleton in the Sahara Desert. e bones had been partly exposed by wind, ■ When 112 million years ago (Early Cretaceous) but removing them meant shifting 15 tonnes of rock and sand. ■ Fossil location Africa One of the  rst things they noticed was a huge, sickle-shaped claw. ■ Habitat Mangrove swamps ■ Length 9 m (30 ft) , TOOTHY CREATURE Suchomimus ■ Diet Fish, possibly meat had more than 100 teeth along its jaw that slanted backwards and were pointed like Suchomimus, meaning “crocodile mimic”, got its the prongs of a rake. Another set of name from its crocodile-like snout and sharp longer teeth lay clustered at teeth. ese helped it hook and pierce struggling, the tip of its snout. slippery  sh. Compared to most meat eaters, Suchomimus had longer and more powerful arms that helped it reach into the water to grasp its prey. A blade-like sail ran along its back and perhaps its tail. Simosuchus’s discoverers Rod Sadleir and Paul Sereno out in the  eld. Sereno excavates a bone. Suchomimus’s thumb claw is longer than a human hand. 176 177

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