How It Compares To Jurassic Park 3 & Real Life

The Jurassic World Rebirth trailer reinvigorated the franchise’s audience with its first look at the movie’s new dinosaurs, and none more so than the new version of the franchise-favorite carnivore, spinosaurus. After Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park prominently featured both Tyrannosaurus rex and several velociraptors as the main dinosaur antagonists, Jurassic Park III introduced the spinosaurus, which killed a T. rex early in the movie to emphasize how much more significant a threat the colossal semiaquatic predator was. While the threequel’s story might have underwhelmed, the spinosaurus certainly did not.

The real spinosaurus has long been considered the largest land predator to ever live, as some estimates of its maximum potential size are as high as nearly 60 feet in length and more than 20 short tons in weight. Jurassic Park III did a good job of emphasizing all the physical traits that made it even scarier than the T. rex, including its speed, powerful arms, massive bite strength, and ability to stalk prey from underwater. That latter trait is on display in the Jurassic World Rebirth trailer, as a pack of spinosaurs are seen engaging in aquatic hunting.

What The Spinosaurus Looks Like In Jurassic World Rebirth

Only A Few Brief Images Are Revealed In The Trailer

While audiences are only afforded a few brief glances at the spinosaurus, one quick shot shows the massive predator mostly out of the water, providing a clear view of its head and upper body. It almost looks like an uglier cousin of the sleek and aerodynamic spinosaurus from Jurassic Park III, with wrinkled skin and some striations along its face. It still has the telltale long snout of the spinosaurus, although it does appear to be somewhat less cleanly-shaped than its predecessor.

This spinosaurus has a thick neck, making it seem even more crocodilian as it rises out of the water. It’s still seen using its powerful arms to great effect, which is one of the key traits that makes it a superior hunter to T. rex. While there was originally only one spinosaurus, there are multiple dinosaurs shown exhibiting pack dynamics. As the creatures swim through the water in the trailer alongside the mososaurus, the distinctive dorsal fin sticks out of the water like a shark, just as was shown in the climactic boat encounter of Jurassic Park III.

How Jurassic World Rebirth’s Spinosaurus Looks Different From Jurassic Park 3

There Are Variances In The Coloration, Head Design, And Skin Texture

There are a few notable differences between the Jurassic World Rebirth spinosaurus and the one seen in Jurassic Park III. While the head of the original spinosaurus was defined by its crocodilian head and long snout, the new spinosaurus seems to have a less symmetrical and elongated snout. While the original snout narrowed before bulging out with the creature’s nose, the new one seems much more uniform in size, and appears to have some sort of scarring or striated skin along its mouth. It also appears to have more bead-like scales, aking to a modern gila monster or beaded lizard.

The new spinosaurus also doesn’t share the same skin or dorsal fin color as the original. The first spinosaurus had a darker skin tone with red splotches mixed in, while the new version seems to be lighter overall, with yellow and beige dominating its skin tone. It also has a bright yellow dorsal fin that has some black or dark brown horizontal stripes along it. To generalize, the new spinosaurus has a complexion that makes it a better camouflage fit for the beach and sun, while the original spinosaurus blended in with the dense foliage of a jungle.

What Scientists Believe The Spinosaurus Looked Like In Real Life

There Is Some Debate Over Specific Aspects Of The Dinosaur’s Appearance

Unlike some of the other dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park series, like the velociraptors in particular, the cinematic versions of the spinosaurus are fairly consistent with what scientists believe the real dinosaur looked like. While the velociraptors are human-sized scaled killing machines in the movies, in reality they were far smaller, and likely covered in feathers. There are, of course, some small differences, but the scientific community generally agrees that the spinosaurus was a semiaquatic predator with a frame and range of motion very similar to the one depicted in Jurassic Park III and now Jurassic World Rebirth.

There are some points of debate in the paleontology community, however. For one, the spinosaurus’ dorsal sail is depicted as a flat protrusion with little more than tight skin covering the bones that make up the spine. In reality, the protruding dorsal bones could have been covered with fat deposits, making a large hump as opposed to a sail. The spinosaurus’ legs were probably smaller than the sturdy base that it had in Jurassic Park III, and might have been set further back on its body, meaning it may not have been quite as fast on land as it’s depicted.

Most significantly, the spinosaurus’ size has been up for debate, with new points of reference being discovered every year. Given how much projection and assumption is involved in piecing together an organism from the past based only on its skeletal remains, some theories point to spinosaurus’ body proportions matching its skull size, which means it could max out at a whopping 59 feet. More modern technology and 3D renderings indicate its length might have maxed out between 41-46 feet, so the range of possibilities is quite broad.

Why Jurassic World Rebirth’s Spinosaurus Looks Different

The Dinosaur’s Physical Location Holds The Key

In addition to the aforementioned coloration differences that could be a result of the different environments in which the two versions of the spinosaurus developed, the nature of where each dinosaur was found has everything to do with their differences. While the original spinosaurus was one of the dinosaurs let loose upon Isla Sorna (the “site B” to Jurassic Park‘s primary location on Isla Nublar), the new spinosauruses are a failed product of the genetic engineering that produced all the original dinosaurs, who have been thriving on a third island since they were created decades ago.

The new spinosauruses are literally genetic mutants, labeled in the trailer as dinosaurs that were “too dangerous” for the park. Like the hulking, four-armed mutant dinosaur seen in the trailer, it’s safe to assume there is something not quite right with the spinosauruses if they originated from that new island. That would explain the minor but significant differences in both their appearance and their behavior, and makes all the dinosaurs in Jurassic World Rebirth that much more unpredictable and lethal.

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Jurassic World Rebirth

Release Date

July 2, 2025

Director

Gareth Edwards

Writers

David Koepp, Michael Crichton