Dinosaurs / Cretaceous / Suchomimus
Suchomimus
Cretaceous SOO-ko-MY-mus, “crocodile mimic”
Suchomimus was a large spinosaurid predator that stalked rivers and floodplains across Early Cretaceous Niger. With a long, narrow snout lined with conical teeth, its jaws bore an uncanny resemblance to those of a modern gharial, perfectly adapted for snatching fish. Behind its head, elongated neural spines supported a low ridge or sail running along its back. Its heavily built forelimbs were armed with massive, sickle-shaped thumb claws that reached up to thirty centimetres long. Weighing around three tonnes, Suchomimus was an agile apex hunter capable of taking both giant freshwater fish and terrestrial dinosaurs. While closely related to the European Baryonyx, Suchomimus reached greater lengths and possessed unique features in its vertebral column, cementing its place as a distinctive northern African predator.
It had a low dorsal ridge and huge, curved thumbs designed for grappling slippery prey.
Where and when
Suchomimus lived in the Early Cretaceous, from 121 to 113 million years ago (Aptian age). Its remains come from Niger, in the Elrhaz Formation.
The numbers
Length 10 m (estimates run from 9.5 to 11 m). Mass about 3.2 t. Hip height about 2.8 m. That is 6.1 human-lengths, or 0.92 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.