You are on page 1of 5

Team Dino1

Jack Bordonaro
LBST: Dinosaurs
Professor Garcia
25 April 2016
Grant Proposal: Spinosaurus
The hypothesis that will be testing for this grant is the function of the spine on the
Spinosaurus where thermoregulation is concerned. Some background on the Spinosaurus is that
it gets its name simply from the obtrusive spine resembling a sail protruding from its vertebrae.
No scientist knows exactly what the sail was used for but many believe it to be the dinosaurs
way of regulating a stable body temperature, much like Stegosaurus armored back plates, to
attract mates, or to ward off predators. Although, the Spinosaurus had many predators since it
was 50 feet long and weighed in at around eighteen thousand pounds. Another possible function
of the spine of the Spinosaurus is that it was used as a method to intimidate other dinosaurs or
even to assist in movement and balance. On top of being the worlds largest carnivore,
Spinosaurus was very intelligent. It had a sensitive snout for detecting motion in murky water as
well as cone shaped teeth wrapped around a narrow jaw ideal for catching fish and other shallow
water dwellers. This prehistoric giant, being a connoisseur of fish, mainly walked on its flat
three-pronged feet among the swampy shallow waters waiting for its next meal but its front arms
were abnormally long enough for it to be conceivable to walk on all fours. No matter the
circumstance, Spinosaurus was ready to catch and eat anything it deemed appropriate. With all
this being said the most interesting and unknown part of this dinosaur is its trademark spine. As
said earlier no one really knows exactly what the spine did and it could have all the functions
mentioned packed into it.

Throughout the past few decades, the Spinosaurus has been a topic of interest because its
fossils are so elusive. One interest in particular has been the question of what the actual spine
of the Spinosaurus was used for. Spinosaurus acquired its name simply from the obtrusive spine
resembling a sail protruding from its back. We believe the spine aspect should be tested because
it can give us insight into how the spine worked to the advantage of the Spinosaurus, and can
help shed light on the many different characteristics that a creature of that size would need in
order to carry out its daily functions. The test that we will conduct is based off of James Farlows
research on the Stegosaurus back plates that were fused into its spine. Farlow and his team also
used a wind tunnel to test a replica of the plates that protruded. The test that Farlow conducted
worked and we plan to replicate this process for the spine of the Spinosaurus. Our team should
be able to create similar results from this proven experiment and get to the bottom of if the spine
was actually used for thermoregulation or was simply for socialization purposes. This test will be
significant to the scientific community because it will be able to shed light on how bigger
dinosaurs might have been able to regulate their temperature while still being cold blooded. It is
believed by many scientists that many dinosaurs had thermoregulatory devices to help them
maintain their temperatures and our testing will help to further prove this point.
Considering the climate of where Spinosaurus bones are typically found, we propose that
the spine of the Spinosaurus was used for thermoregulating heat out of the massive organisms
body. The first Spinosaurus fossils were found in Egypt and an illustration was made by Ernst
Stromer, a renowned paleontologist. Unfortunately his spine fossils were destroyed in a bombing
raid on Berlin during World War II. Recently researchers have discovered and artificially created
a new full skeleton based on a more recent lesser fossil discovery. In order to get a better glimpse

of the actual structure of the spine, our team will need to visit the Smithsonian in Washington,
DC where the new full reconstruction of the Spinosaurus physique is housed. We plan to base
this full reconstruction to build our own testable construction of the sail. By using materials that
are good conductors of heat such as metals, like aluminum and steel, and by using existing
tissues from a close relative of the Spinosaurus like an alligator, we will reconstruct the sail and
embed heat monitoring mechanisms to create a prototype that accurately represents the heat
created by the Spinosaurus and released from the sail. After the make-shift sail is embedded
tubes of heated water will be ran through to recreate the heat of the Spinosaurus which was
around 100 degrees fahrenheit. Then the sail model will be placed into a wind tunnel and by
measuring the heat of the sail as well as the air temperature surrounding the sail we can gather an
accurate representation of how much heat the sail released as well as the rate at which it was
released in various temperatures and wind speeds. The data collected should tell us if the spine
would be able to regulate heat successfully. This process is very similar to the project conducted
by Farlow and it will hopefully produce significant results. If our hypothesis was confirmed to be
correct it could have important implications on the physiology of dinosaurs and our test will be
able to prove the spine as a regulatory structure.
We as an educational institution are very qualified to go forward with this venture. Our
association is dedicated to learning about dinosaurs and we have a particular love for the
Spinosaurus. The institution has conducted research on this topic before and we have the
knowledge required to complete this task at a more specific level. This project is worthy of your
money and we are the right institution to carry this out. When we are done with this test and get
our results your organization could be a part of a leap in scientific discovery for mysterious

dinosaurs like the Spinosaurus and open the idea that other dinosaurs had thermoregulatory
devices as well. This project has important implications on the physiology of the Spinosaurus
and dinosaurs in general and we hope you agree.

Works Cited

Anatomical Advantages of the Spinosaurus. PBS LearningMedia. N.p., 2016. Web. 23


Feb.
2016.
"Body Temperatures in Dinosaurs: What Can Growth Curves Tell Us?" PLOS ONE:. 30
Oct. 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
Castro, By Joseph. Spinosaurus: The Largest Carnivorous Dinosaur. LiveScience.
TechMedia
Network, 30 Oct. 2014. Web. 22 Feb. 2016
Dodd, J. Robert, and Robert J. Stanton. Paleoecology, Concepts and Applications. New
York:
Wiley, 1981. Google. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
Koch, Carl Fred. Cretaceous Period | Geochronology. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 09 Feb. 2016. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
Morelle, Rebecca. "Spinosaurus Fossil: 'Giant Swimming Dinosaur' Unearthed." BBC
News. 11
Sept. 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
"Stegosaurus Plate Debate." Smithsonian. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.

Spinosaurus. Dinopedia. Wikipedia, 29 Oct. 2015. Web. 22 Feb. 2016


Spinosaurus. Spinosaurus. RTN, 2007. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.

https://www.aa.washington.edu/AERL/KWT/rateguide
Budget
-$1935 an hour for four hours a day, for five days ($38,700)
-Round Trip from Charlotte to Museum in DC - $1,537 for six people
-food $1000
-housing in DC $2,707
-Shipping fee for prototype $1000
-transportation $1000

Timeline:
It would take two weeks to travel to DC and obtain all the info needed to emulate the skeleton.
It would take around a month to build a prototype and a week to test it in a wind tunnel.

You might also like