Meet Spino!

Good for sharing with little readers

Spino’s love of magic and his unexpected mishaps give families a playful starting point for talking about practising something they enjoy. Ask your child which trick they would like to show a friend, or what they might do when a performance does not quite go to plan.

While Dinosaur Talent Show is in development, explore the current dinosaur adventures.

About the real Spinosaurus

Spinosaurus lived in the Cretaceous, around 99–94 million years ago, in what is now North Africa. Fossils have been found in Egypt and Morocco. It was an enormous meat-eating dinosaur, estimated at about 14 metres long. Because no complete skeleton has been found, measurements are estimates rather than an exact answer.

Its narrow snout and cone-shaped teeth were suited to catching fish. Tall spines on its back supported the feature usually shown as a sail, and newer discoveries have revealed a broad, paddle-like tail. Those shapes make Spinosaurus especially easy to recognise in a picture or toy.

Scientists think water played an important part in its life, but still debate how it moved and hunted in and around water. We should not imagine we know every detail of its behaviour. Spino’s magic tricks, clumsiness and carefully kept sail are his fictional personality; the real animal gives families plenty of interesting shapes to spot together.

Meet more familiar faces in our dinosaur books for children while Spino’s next adventure is in development.

Explore more with the Natural History Museum’s Spinosaurus guide.