Baryonyx

A Metricanthosaurus from Jurassic World

Baryonyx is a spinosaur, a member of the same group as the northern African dinosaurs Spinosaurus and Suchomimus. Baryonyx was smaller than these relatives but was still a big predator. It was 10 meters (33 feet) long and 2.5 meters (8 feet) high at the hips. It had a long, narrow snout filled with teeth that were cone-shaped - a real difference from the blade-shaped teeth of typical meat-eating dinosaurs.

Because of the shape of its snout and teeth (both of which are similar to those of modern crocodiles and alligators), some paleontologists think that Baryonyx ate lots of fish. Others, however, think it ate other dinosaurs. In fact, both ideas are supported by the original Baryonyx specimen from Surry. In the guts of this dinosaur, palaeontologists found the partially digested scales of large fish as well as the partially digested bones of a young Iguanodon. This strongly supports the idea that Baryonyx ate both fish and dinosaurs.

Story

Jurassic Park brochure map showing Baryonyx's paddock.

InGen created Baryonyx in the InGen Compound in Isla Sorna. It was planned to live in its own paddock for Phase I of Jurassic Park. Its paddock was located near a river, which could have supplied its residents with fish to eat. Though they were never seen in the park, but there should have been at least a Baryonyx on the island since it was planned for Phase I.

It is unknown if there were any surviving wild populations after Hurricane Clarissa hit Isla Sorna.

Jurassic World

InGen recreated this dinosaur for Masrani Global Corporation's new dinosaur park Jurassic World. These new clones had proto-feathers on the back of their arms and on the top of their heads. They were brown with yellow stripes on their backs, legs, and underbelly, a lime green eye spot and brown patches on their body and stripes on their tail. It lived alongside its relative Suchomimus in the Cretaceous Cruise.

It is currently unknown if there were any surviving populations after the Isla Nublar Incident of 2015 or if any were killed during said incident.

Toylines

A Baryonyx toy was released in the Jurassic Park Series 2 and The Lost World Series 2 toy lines. In The Lost World Series 2 it has a yellow paint job and snapping jaws. Both toys are very rare. It should be noted that The Lost World Series 2 's Baryonyx was longer than Jurassic Park Series 2 's Baryonyx.

However compared to the human figures they were both too small, they could be juveniles but it seems that Kenner chose to make them smaller for an unknown reason.

Trivia

Jurassic Park III logo with Baryonyx.

• When trying to identify the Spinosaurus during the Isla Sorna Incident of 2001, one of Billy Brennan's guesses was Baryonyx before Dr. Alan Grant corrected him.
• Baryonyx was originally supposed to be the main antagonist dinosaur of Jurassic Park III and a logo depicting it as well as a storyboard featuring this dinosaur was even made. But Baryonyx was replaced by its larger relative Spinosaurus in the final product. According to Ricardo Delgado, who served as a concept artist for Jurassic Park III in early 2000, several members of the Jurassic Park III would refer to the Spinosaurus as Baryonyx