In the year of 1944 the Allied and the Axis forces continued to wage war in Europe during World War II. Just over a month before the American led forces landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day the British Royal Air Force began a bombing raid against the Nazi’s in the city of Munich. This military strike would ultimately cause the oldest known casualty of the second World War.
Twenty-nine years earlier paleontologist Ernst Stromer officially named a fossil he had found in 1912. This fossil was named Spinosaurus. The name meaning “spine lizard” was a theropod dinosaur with a sail on its back and a much narrower snout compared to the Tyrannosaurus Rex. This dinosaur lived during the Cretaceous period over 100 million years ago and lived in what is today North Africa. This Spinosaurus, the holotype of its species, was now living in the Museum of Paleontology in Munich, Germany.
During the air strike on the night of April 24th the museum would be left in utter ruins and all the fossils inside were destroyed, including the original Spinosaurus. Only Stromer’s notes, photographs and drawings were left as proof of the animal’s once prior existence on our planet. It wasn’t until years later that another Spinosaurus fossil would be discovered by paleontologist.
Today, thanks to new advances in science our team at the Stomp Chomp Roar Dinosaur Lab were able to develop the genetic DNA to the largest known theropod dinosaur to ever walk the Earth. The team just had one minor set back. During the genetic coding process a few strands of Stegosaurus DNA was accidently added into the final creation of our Spinosaurus. This slight mistake in the laboratory caused our Spinosaurus embryo to grow thagomizers on its tail which are the spikes at the end of the tail of a Stegosaurus. We also noticed after his birth that the Spinosaurus had become an omnivore. This means the new baby dinosaur can eat both plants and meat to sustain his diet.
Since the baby Spinosaurus left the hatchery just over a month ago he has done very well in our society. He continues to be bottle fed, but we expect for this to begin tapering off very soon. The baby Spinosaurus is also very curious and has terrific memory. He also enjoys playing with the items we lay out in his paddock and has taken notice to the verbal commands we’re teaching him like sit, speak and down.
We’re so excited to introduce our new baby dinosaur to our community and we can’t wait to meet all the friends he makes along the way!
- Dr. Anthony
