T-Rex vs Spinosaurus... Who would win?

[Rana1000]

A Spinosaurus, driven by hunger, leaves its spot by the river. It has sat for hours, and not been able to catch a single fish. It decides that it must either find a new body of water, or hunt. Sniffing the air, it picks up the smell of blood, and an injured herbivore. It walks off in the direction that the scent had come from, and soon finds what it was looking for. But unfortunately, someone has beat the Spinosaurus to the meal. A tyrannosaurus, about a hundred feet away, is bent over a freshly killed triceratops. The T-Rex looks up, and roars a warning. It worked hard to bring the triceratops down, and isn't about to give up it's meal. But the Spinosaurus advances forward. The T-Rex turns towards the Spinosaurus, ready to attack. And so, the field is set for a dino battle. The question is, who will be more likely to win?

In your opinion, who do you think would be the victor in a fight between a T-Rex and a Spinosaurus? Please don't post anything like, "The T-Rex, because he's cooler!" Use facts to support your answer if you want
(And yes, I know this would never actually happen because of how many millions of years apart the two lived)

If this were a bet, my money would be on the Tyrannosaurus. Sure, the Spino was bigger, but it's jaws just weren't fit for heavy duty chomping. Spinosaurus was mainly a fish eater. The T-Rex, however, had one of the most powerful bite forces of any creature to walk the earth. If it got ahold of the Spinosaurus's neck, it wouldn't have much of a chance of getting away.

[Thylacina]

Spinosaurus, no competition.

[SheWolfWarrior]

I agree with Thylacina. The spinosaurus may have a weaker bite force, but other than that it's better than the T-Rex. Just think of the fight the two had in Jurassic Park III. The spinosaurus used it's massively strong arms to quickly overpower the rex. It's also WAY bigger and faster and stronger than the T-Rex. The only reason people know hardly anything about it is because of it's bones. The best spino fossil ever found was destroyed by a war. And that fossil only had bits and pieces.

Plus, the spino looks way more bada** than the T-Rex. I've always found rexs stupid looking because of the big head and tiny arms. I also love spinys like crazy, my most favorite dino. I know SO much about them.

Oh, and for the record they weren't that many years apart. Both were in the late Cretaceous. The real reason why they wouldn't find each other is because of the lands they live in. The T-Rex is American, while the Spinosaurus is African.

I'm going to stop now. But I could spurt out SO many spino facts. And so many reasons why it would kick a T-Rex's butt.

[Rana1000]

How did I know you would post here? Prepare to be bombed with facts!

Explain to me how you know a Spino was faster then T-Rex. if there are no close to complete fossils of them, how can you be sure they were faster? Also, their bones would probably have to be lighter, and more fragile then a T-Rex's, and more easily broken.
(Also, Jurassic Park was not very accurate with their facts... they just needed a new "big bad dino", instead of T-Rex again.) This is like comparing a basketball player to a football player. Sure, the basketball player is taller, but height isn't everything. The football player would most likely be stronger, more sturdily built. The T-Rex was built for bringing down large herbivores, right? If the Spinosaurus was a fish-eater, it was not suited for hunting large dinosaurs. Also, T-Rex had most likely had more muscle mass, weighing up to 6 tons, where Spinosaurus only weighed up to 4.

[SheWolfWarrior]

No, you be prepared for fact bombing.

Firstly, there was a show called 'Monsters Resurrected'. It had an episode on spiny and it showed newly discovered info that makes spiny truly, the king of the dinos. If you have a NetFlix streamable account, the episode can be streamed. Or even if you have a regular NetFlix account, it can be shipped. You should really watch it. It says a whole lot about spiny and makes sense too.

Okay, the Wiki is too complicated for me to post my own versions of the writing. So here is the link for the spiny Wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinosaurus

And about the T-Rex, it wasn't even a hunter. Last I heard, it was a scavenger. And the spinosaur could have had more muscle mass than T-Rex. The poor beast just has incomplete remains. It got the short end of the straw. So really, this argument is invalid. We won't know who will win until more bones of spiny are found. And also Spiny wasn't solely a fish eater. There is new evidence that suggests that he hunted his own prey. His teeth may have been conical, but he had these super big and strong arms. So the conical teeth held the prey down and he used his arms and claws to rip pieces of his meal off. All the bones that have been found for the spiny are, spine, head and some leg or arm bones, I believe. Just because there is little evidence for his muscle mass, doesn't make him weak. I swear, one day they will find a complete spiny skeleton, and it will be more awesome than T-Rex. I give you that.

I'm not admitting defeat either. Just read the spiny Wiki and maybe even the T-Rex Wiki if you want. Watch the spiny episode of 'Monsters Resurrected'. I will watch and read too, because I wouldn't mind. I'm just too tired to fully complete the facts. I'll probably be able to continue arguing tomorrow. Spiny will win.

[Rana1000]

(I have to go, so I'm going to make this quick.)
I watched the video, and I have to say, the claws do make Spinosaurus look impressive. But I have also watched a few videos about the bite force of a T-Rex, and recommend that you do as well. Scientists create a replica of a Tyrannosaurus skull, to find out just how much damage it could do. It is easily able to crush a bone to the point where it could not possibly be useable again. Imagine Spinosaurus's claws, only in it's mouth. Now imagine that mouth was super sized and wider, and made specifically for tearing huge chunks of flesh and crushing bone. Anything with a mouth like that would be pretty capable of brining down huge prey. Well that is exactly what a Tyrannosaurus Rex's mouth was made for. How can you say that T-Rex was a scavenger, with a bite force of 4-6 tons? That's 8000 to 12000 pounds coming crashing down on your neck. T-Rex was obviously an apex predator. Now, with as much as Tyrannosaurus weighed, plus it's bite, it might seem like the T-Rex couldn't possibly have any more abilities that would give it the advantage over a Spinosaurus. But it had many more. It also refused to give up. There have been Tyrannosaurus bones found twisted, snapped, fractured and shattered. There has even been a skull found that was missing it's brain case. And guess what? 90% of these bones had shown signs of healing, meaning that even after it had numerous broken bones, it refused to give it's life up. So lets see a fragile fish eater with delicate bones go up against something such as a T-Rex, with it's strength, bite force, refusal to die and many other advantages that would take me longer then I have time left before I have to go

[Karzarill]

(I love dinosaurs, I've been learning about them since I was about 7, here's my analysis of them. It does look like Spino have a higher chance of winning depending on who gets the first hit.

This is my analysis in situations that suggest a winning opportunity for both of them since there's so many theories around them, especially about T-Rex.)

Is long, you have been warned. I haven't talked about dinosaurs in ages.

Spoiler

New evidence suggest that Tyrannosaurus Rex may have hunted like a lion rather than like the hyena that scavenge on regular basis, countering some of the more popular thoughts of it being a scavenger, even tho I'm still open to the thought of it actually scavenging but weighing more on it doing it as a last resort option. The tyrant's femurs (thigh bones) were relatively long suggesting good running endurance and maybe speed since longer femurs means more speed due to more muscle powering it forward. It is possible that the tyrant was a scavenger due to its build, is still something many are debating. It had the power to be a top predator but if it fell while running the fall had the potential to inflict fatal damage to it due to its weight and the fact that its comically tiny arms wouldn't have been able to break the fall, even so studies have shown that these limbs may have been powerful. Kenneth Carpenter of the Denver Museum of Natural History suggests that based on the size, shape and position of the arm bones and shoulder blades, these apparently puny limbs were powerful. They may have been using them as rests when sleeping/resting and using them as a spring board to get back up again after sleeping/resting. Would the arms have been useful in a fight? I don't think so they were too short for that.

The argument with the T-Rex refusing to give up is invalid since A LOT of carnivorous dinosaurs have been found with old injuries just like that (the most popular one being an Allosaurus dubbed Al that had a two episode long special telling about its life, death, uncovering and analysis of the bones), so the Spinosaurus could have sustained the same injuries, survived and healed, we don't know that due to not having found nearly as complete remains of it or as many. The most complete T-Rex skeleton is around 98-99% complete after all, only missing a few toe bones and iirc it has been dubbed Sue.

Now on the to Spinosaurus, it did weight less (4 tons roughly) if we are to believe the current analysis on the remains found, but that doesn't mean it couldn't win. Even if those jaws look fragile you can compare them to that of modern crocodiles and they can most certainly deliver a bone crushing bite, but like with crocodiles and alligators they may have had weak muscles when it came to opening them again. So why not the same for the Spinosaurus? I can't see why it shouldn't have been able to have a bone crushing bite too, maybe not as powerful as the T-Rex's but still bone crushing, I can see that being very possible. It may have been a fish eater but that doesn't mean it was fragile and weak since it seem very capable of hunting other things than fish. The claws it had at the end of those fingers were impressive and I can easily picture them deliver some nasty but not necessary deadly blows, when I look at them they look perfect for grabbing and holding smaller prey, not something as big as T-Rex I think. But still it really looks like it had strong arms that could deliver some nasty claw attacks. That means it could probably use them in a fight, a swiped to the eye from claws like that could make it go permanently blind or maybe a nice swipe to the throat.

Spino is taller (not counting its sail, is taller even without it) giving it a height advantage when it comes to neck biting, while Rex being shorter would have a great view at Spino's throat. Rex being heavier and shorter would give it a lower point of gravity making it harder to tip over, Spino being higher and lighter would probably have been easier to tip over, the sail on its back may or may not help countering that. Rex with its long femurs would have great endurance for running, doesn't mean it would have endurance for a fight since running and fighting produce some very different movements. When I look at reconstructed skeletons of Spino it seem that its two main leg bones seem to be roughly the same length, now iirc this creates stability helping it stay on its feet. Now to their arms, Spino clearly have an upper hand here since Rex's tiny arms (powerful or not) can't do anything to assist it in a fight at all. I can easily picture Spino trying to take out one or even both Rex's eyes. Just getting one eye will give it an upper hand in a fight since we all know what happens when you only have one eye, your ability to judge depths and distance decreases meaning that Rex could end up misjudging distance between it and Spino making what could possibly be a fatal error that could give Spino the only chance it needs to bite down on Rex's neck. Rex clearly have an advantage when it comes to jaw power, hands down, but as said before that doesn't mean Spino couldn't deliver a bone crushing bite too. Let's not forget to look at Rex's build versus Spino's, when I look at those I see a marathon running with low gravity point versus a well balance and possible more agile but not nearly a sturdy body. And now for the teeth, Rex have serrated teeth design for cutting that will add to the damage done doing the bite while Spino have conical teeth that lacked serrations, perfect for piecing and pushing any kind bacteria it had in its mouth deep into the wound, that is if it had any that were particular good at causing an infection.

All in all Rex is awesome but a bite power of 6 tons is worth nothing if your opponent is able to avoid your attacks due to it having the aid of agility and extra weapons, Rex may be able to break one of Spino's arms with its bite but it still have one left it can use to try and claw itself free with by going for the eyes or the side of the neck which could result in some possibly dangerous wounds. When looking at Rex's legs as mentioned earlier it may have had been fast for its bulky build, but that may only have counted if it was moving forward in a straight or slightly curved line. It may not have been agile enough to shift direction fast judging by its build, Spino may have been able to do that.

When it comes to who would win, I see a higher chance for Spino to win, both dinosaurs have pros and cons. In a drawn out fight I would put my money on Spino, but if Rex gets in the first attack depend on the strategy it would use it could win in only a bite or two. There's a few popular strategies people have thought of. One of them being a charge at full speed with its mouth wide open. If it did that it would take Spino time to get out of the way, since is fairly long so Rex might get hold of its tail giving it a chance to actually bite it off, if enough of the tail is bitten off Spino might be unable to keep its balance and fall. Meaning Rex would just have to wait for Spino to either bleed out since all major blood vessel in the tail have been ripped open. Or just walk around it and attack it from the back with a well timed (well timed since I doubt Spino would just lie there letting itself get killed whenever the wound is fatal or not it would flail and snap at Rex) neck breaking bite. Or if Rex takes Spino completely by surprise by charging from the relatively short distance it may get a go at the belly and those jaws combined with the power behind them will create a fatal injury.

But if it misses because Spino gets out of the way it has lost its best chance at winning the fight and what could be a drawn out fight will start, in that case I put my money on Spino. Rex have a powerful weapon at its disposal but I honestly think that it would only win if it surprises Spino or gets the first hit since 6 tons of pressure per square foot ain't no joke, getting that clamp down on you will inflict a lot of damage no matter what. But raw power isn't everything.

In a drawn out fight I think Spino would win since it does have a slight advantage with extra weapons that can potentially take out an eye and being higher making it easier for it to clamp down on Rex's neck and it may be more agile due to its lighter build compared to Rex who's shorter, bulkier and heavier.

(Rex is my favorite of those two, but looking at them depending on how the fight starts Rex might not win. I'm not just talking about the scenario already given in the OP.)

[SheWolfWarrior]

Thank you, SheDragon, for your opinion. I was about to mention a few of those same things. Like, Spiny could have refused to give up like T-Rex, he could've been strong boned and well muscled too. We just don't know these things for sure because of how little fossils there are. There are so many T-Rex complete fossils that the Wiki now has mating theories of the T-Rex! But these are still just theories, and always will be until we see these dinos for real. I'm, of course, a spino lover and T-Rexs are my least fave dino. I love spinys so much I even have an authentic tooth. It's one of the smaller ones, since Spiny had many different sized teeth, but it is still awesome. And I still believe that Spiny is King of the dinos. Besides, there are bigger carnivores than T-Rex. Like Gigantosaurus. But even that dino is smaller than spiny. You can't just make assumptions of spiny being weaker. I still believe that he is the king of dinos and deserves the crown. I always will.

So if the two, Spiny and T-Rex, ever got in a ring, I would put my money on Spiny. But it is true that if Rex snuck up on Spiny, Rex may win.

On a different and more friendly note, I love the third poll choice. I laughed at that. It's awesome, I can imagine Barney using a sniper rifle to take down other dinos.

[Rana1000]

I like to add a bit of humor to polls. And She-Dragon, you have some good points. I still think that a Tyrannosaurus would have the advantage though, because Spinosaurus just wasn't built for brining down very large prey like an experienced T-Rex would have been, giving it a slightly better chance of winning. But I'm not completely ruling out that a Spinosaurus could bring down a T-Rex, I just think a Tyrannosaurus would have been better equipped for this kind of heavy duty dino-battle.

[SheWolfWarrior]

True, but I think the spino would also be better equipped. I could be biased of course, because of my love for them. I do admit that I got slightly defensive last night, LOL, silly me. I just love Spinys so much. I'm hoping, one day, to have every Spiny plastic dino figure out there. So far it going good. Especially my most prized item, Spiny the Jurassic Park III action figure. He's so old you wouldn't believe, LOL. I think I got him when I was 10 years old or maybe even younger. Depends on what year the movie came out.

On a side note, since we are on the topic of dinos, what's your favorite? Or, at least, top three. Here's my top three.

1. Spinosaurus. And actually, any Spinosauridae, for that matter. (Spinosauridae means the Spinosaurus family.)
2. Any Pterosaur. But if I had to choose, it would be the Pteranodon.
3. Any Ceratopsian (that means the Triceratops family). But if I had to choose, it would be the Triceratops.

As you can see, my three favs came from the Cretaceous period. So, obviously, I like dinos from that period the best.