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Profile
True to Life?

Profile

Species: walkeri
Range: Late Jurassic (Valanginian-Barremian, 136-125 MYA) from England, Spain, possibly Morocco
Size estimate: 25 ft length, 1-1.5 tons
Discovery: A. J. Charig and A. C. Milne, 1986
Classification: dinosauria, saurischia, theropoda, spinosauridae, baryonychinae

True to Life?

Since no one has ever seen a living dinosaur, and the missing pieces of the fossil record withhold important clues to their appearance, no artistic representation of a dinosaur ever gets it 100% right. On top of that, new discoveries can change our ideas of extinct creatures drastically. So, how close does this sculpture come to what we know of the original animal?

• Since scientists know Baryonyx from a fairly complete skeleton—the best theropod skeleton found in the British Isles, actually—it has become the archetype for the look of the entire spinosaur family. In general terms, the Baryonyx shown here closely matches what we know of this animal.
• Early artistic depictions of this species often showed it resting on all fours. Such a pose requires the arms to twist out of joint, though, and no known theropod has forelimbs that can accommodate it. Some studies have suggested Spinosaurus habitually walked on all fours based on simple calculations that found its center of gravity balanced in front of the hips. Subsequent tests using more complex computer models contested that view, finding Spinosaurus had no trouble balancing on two legs. So why does this four-legged spinosaur trope persist in art? Some of the first studies on Baryonyx interpreted the large claw on its hand that inspired its name as a tool for flicking fish out of the water. The idea evokes images similar to grizzly bears fishing for salmon, and so for some artists this grizzly affinity may make a four-legged pose feel more intuitive for an angler using paws or claws. However, no study has confirmed Baryonyx used its eponymous claws as giant fish hooks, and the general pattern of classic theropod forelimbs casts doubt on whether it would prefer capturing prey manually rather than orally. On the other hand, its distinctive jaws strongly suggest that catching its prey with its teeth formed an important part of its strategy for capturing prey, as shown here.
• That four-legged squat trope for the family as a whole may have more to do with Spinosaurus than Baryonyx, even though early studies on Baryonyx and its place in evolutionary history did not connect it to Spinosaurus until years after its discovery, due mainly to a lack of material for  Spinosaurus. No spoilers here on why the quad trope persists so strongly with Spinosaurus though—head downstream to get the full story! But here’s a hint: it has to do with a weird evolutionary fashion trend popular among different types of animals from the Permian to the Cretaceous, including another denizen of the Park. Suffice it to say for now that creepy-crawly Baryonyx likely arose for different reasons than it did for Spinosaurus, and that this artistic parallel owes its genesis to bizarre coincidence, not phylogenetic relationships.
• The sculpture shown here sadly lacks an unsung feature unique to Baryonyx: Charig and Milner, who described the Baryonyx holotype, report that, “Baryonyx is . . . the possessor of [a] unique feature, a lower dentition that has twice as many teeth crowded into the same length of jaw as does the upper dentition.” Though the teeth in the upper jaw and front of the lower jaw of the Park’s sculpture are appropriately large, the teeth farther back along the lower jaw should be smaller and almost twice as numerous as the top teeth. Details like this can make a big difference in how scientists interpret the lifestyle and behaviors of fossil animals, but they sometimes get buried in descriptions and therefore don’t show up in art as often as they should.