# Tyrannosaur vs. Spinosaur -- who would win? (Inspired by "Jurassic Park 3") **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 24, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-spinosaur-who-would-win-inspired-by-jurassic-park-3/457627 "2008-07-24T16:07:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-spinosaur-who-would-win-inspired-by-jurassic-park-3/457627/1 "2008-07-24T16:07:15Z")
In the “Jurassic Park 3” movie, a spinosaur and a tyrannosaur have a violent confrontation, and it ends badly for the T-rex. Would a fight between the two species really end this way? What do you guys think? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-spinosaur-who-would-win-inspired-by-jurassic-park-3/457627/2 "2008-07-24T16:41:41Z")
The History Channel has a new series where they explore which dinosaur would win in a fight. I dunno if they have these specific two fighting or not though. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-spinosaur-who-would-win-inspired-by-jurassic-park-3/457627/3 "2008-07-24T17:41:36Z")
Does the Tyrannosaur get an [F-14](http://iconicionic.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/tyrannosaurus_in_f-14s.jpg)? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-spinosaur-who-would-win-inspired-by-jurassic-park-3/457627/4 "2008-07-24T17:52:07Z")
I’d bet on the t-rex. He had a stronger bite while the spinosaur’s mouth was built for fishing. The big sail on the back would be a liability in a fight as well. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-spinosaur-who-would-win-inspired-by-jurassic-park-3/457627/5 "2008-07-24T18:11:49Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Lance Murdoch] I’d bet on the t-rex. He had a stronger bite while the spinosaur’s mouth was built for fishing. The big sail on the back would be a liability in a fight as well. [/QUOTE] I was thinking the same thing. The spinosaur would be accustomed to feeding on fish much, much smaller than itself, while the tyrannosaur took down much more formidable prey, like triceratops! Of course, the outcome might depend on who bit first – if the spinosaur were quicker, and got in a bite to a vulnerable area, the tyrannosaur might be in for some trouble. Another question – were spinosaurs supposed to have been even bigger than the T-Rex? ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-spinosaur-who-would-win-inspired-by-jurassic-park-3/457627/6 "2008-07-24T18:36:43Z")
Who would win? The T-Rex would have a disadvantage-he would have to bend down to bite the low-lying tricerops. Can the spiked tail inflict any serious damage? ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-spinosaur-who-would-win-inspired-by-jurassic-park-3/457627/7 "2008-07-24T18:51:18Z")
[QUOTE=gytalf2000] Another question – were spinosaurs supposed to have been even bigger than the T-Rex? [/QUOTE] [Yes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Largesttheropods.svg). I recall reading a criticism from a scientist/paleontologist that the Spinosaurus depicted in JP3 was horribly inaccurate; the Spino largely ate fish and was far to big to be very agile. I can’t seem to dig up the quote. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-spinosaur-who-would-win-inspired-by-jurassic-park-3/457627/8 "2008-07-24T20:01:43Z")
[QUOTE=squeegee] [Yes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Largesttheropods.svg). I recall reading a criticism from a scientist/paleontologist that the Spinosaurus depicted in JP3 was horribly inaccurate; the Spino largely ate fish and was far to big to be very agile. I can’t seem to dig up the quote. [/QUOTE] Well, it appears that my memory was accurate about the spinosaur being bigger. One thing that confuses me about that “Largest Theropods” link, though: I was under the impression that Tyrannosaurus Rex was bigger than the diagram depicts! It looks as if, with its body held horizontally, the king of the lizards is “only” about as tall as an African elephant. I thought that they were at least half again as tall. (Perhaps my memory is muddled from the fact that, all during my childhood – 1960s, early 1970s – all the dinosaur books depicted their bodies as being held more vertically. Even so, I thought that tyrannosaurs were bigger than that!) ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-spinosaur-who-would-win-inspired-by-jurassic-park-3/457627/9 "2008-07-24T20:08:32Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] Who would win? The T-Rex would have a disadvantage-he would have to bend down to bite the low-lying tricerops. Can the spiked tail inflict any serious damage? [/QUOTE] Spiked tail? Triceratops? ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-spinosaur-who-would-win-inspired-by-jurassic-park-3/457627/10 "2008-07-24T20:15:36Z")
[QUOTE=Freudian Slit] Spiked tail? Triceratops? [/QUOTE] Thagomizer and Stegosaurus, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-spinosaur-who-would-win-inspired-by-jurassic-park-3/457627/11 "2008-07-24T20:31:20Z")
[QUOTE=gytalf2000] Well, it appears that my memory was accurate about the spinosaur being bigger. One thing that confuses me about that “Largest Theropods” link, though: I was under the impression that Tyrannosaurus Rex was bigger than the diagram depicts! It looks as if, with its body held horizontally, the king of the lizards is “only” about as tall as an African elephant. I thought that they were at least half again as tall. [/QUOTE] I get the impression (which I can’t seem to confirm via google) that the height of theropods isn’t generally specified, and instead length (nose to tail) is the usual metric. Since these are two legged creatures, nobody is really sure how they stood in a ‘normal’ posture, so height is variable. In any case, the [largest elephant recorded](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant) was 14 feet at the shoulder. The size of the [largest T-Rex specimen found](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosaurus) is 13 feet at the hips, so a “standing” T-Rex is reasonably taller than an elephant. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaur-vs-spinosaur-who-would-win-inspired-by-jurassic-park-3/457627/12 "2008-07-25T07:08:44Z")
[QUOTE=gytalf2000] Another question – were spinosaurs supposed to have been even bigger than the T-Rex? [/QUOTE] “Bigger” is relative. They were a bit larger\*, but less heavily built than tyrannosaurs (An adult _T. rex_ probably had a good 1.5 tons on even a big _Spinosaurus_). Tyrannosaurs had the biggest concentration of muscles in their jaws, neck and legs, whereas the neck and skull of _Spinosaurus_ were much leaner. The odds of a spinosaur snapping a tyrannosaur’s neck, as in _JPIII_, would have been pretty low (aside from, you know, the whole temporal impossibility of such a thing…). - The diagram linked too earlier is a bit misleading; note that you can’t see the spino’s tail so it doesn’t give you an accurate measure of its length, which is believed to be all of about 5’ longer than _T. rex_.