Overview
- A peer-reviewed study led by Dr. Caleb Gordon and published in Current Biology used an AI model trained on a dataset of more than 11,000 measurements, photos, and CT scans drawn from the Yale Peabody Museum and dozens of other institutions.
- The model recovered a highly aquatic lifestyle for Spinosaurus, indicating the species spent the vast majority of its life submerged rather than primarily wading at shorelines.
- Analysis of mesosaurs and many early marine reptiles found limb proportions consistent with regular movement between water and land, implying these animals remained amphibious rather than fully water-adapted.
- The AI links specific skeletal proportions to known lifestyles and can be used to predict soft-tissue features, such as swimming structures that rarely fossilize, which helps explain conflicting signals from fragmentary bones.
- Researchers caution that the conclusions depend on the comparative data and model assumptions, so independent validation and follow-up studies will determine how museums, fieldwork, and paleoecological reconstructions change in response.