Suchomimus

dinosaur · predator · fish-eater · Africa

Crocodile mimic. Suchomimus had a long, narrow snout filled with sharp teeth, just like a crocodile, which is exactly what its name means. This special shape let it snatch slippery fish right out of the water.

Giant theropod dinosaur. This meat-eating dinosaur walked on two powerful back legs and could grow to be quite large. It belonged to a special group called spinosaurids, which were some of the strangest hunters ever to roam the Earth.

Desert discovery. Scientists found Suchomimus fossils in the Ténéré Desert in Niger, a place in Africa. The dinosaur's scientific name S. tenerensis comes from this sandy desert where it once hunted millions of years ago.

Well-preserved skeleton. The fossils discovered in 1997 and described by Paul Sereno gave scientists one of the best pictures of what a spinosaur really looked like. Multiple specimens helped paleontologists understand its bones and how it lived.

Early Cretaceous hunter. Suchomimus lived around 112 million years ago during a time when dinosaurs were still evolving into new, weird shapes. It shared its world with other unusual predators and plant-eating dinosaurs.