100 million years ago the late Cretaceous had just started and in Northern Africa the largest African predator of all time and the second biggest therapod known to science was roaming about the Spinosaurus it was enjoying the beginning of a dynasty that would end up spanning across millions of years its giant size coupled with an enormous sail would also help secure its Legacy and today it remains one of the most iconic dinosaurs ever likely being the third most famous therapod after Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Velociraptor yet despite its fame or stature nearly no one is aware of the fact that the spinosaurus actually had a twin so to speak as while it was dominating in Africa a spinos sword of nearly equal power and appearance was carrying out its very own rule in South America this was the oxala unlike its African sibling who has been known to science for over 100 years the oxia is a dinosaur much newer to paleontology being discovered and described in 20 11 the first fossil attributed to it was located in the Alcantara formation of Northern Brazil and consisted of the frontmost snout bones paleontologists were quick to note that this newly discovered dinosaur was a member of the spinos sword family as it snout chaired many characteristics only seen in other spinos swords this clear classification led to a quick description and naming with the founders dubbing it oxela quum bensis a nod to the African deity obatala the finding of such a dinosaur in Brazil was big news but not necessarily A Monumental one as spinosaurs in Brazil were already known about and had been since the late 1990s through jera such as the irritator however despite being a bit late to the party oxia still blew many away not because of a crazy feature or anything but because of its size as the snout plus a later found skull fragment both came from individuals that seemingly dwarfed other known spinos swords minus the spinosaurs while also outclassing nearly every other therapod known to science with the most recent studies estimating adults to have been between 12 and 14 M or 39 and 46 ft in length while weighing anywhere from 5 to 7 tons which if accurate would easily make it Brazil's largest Predator ever and one of the top 10 heaviest known therapods naturally its large size would have made mature oxala Untouchable to other carnivores and it's commonly thought that like the Spinosaurus it too was its environment's apex predator because of the shared role between Spinosaurus and oxia and that the two were closely matched in size paleontologists have long been curious on the relationship between them a curiosity that is only heightened by the fact that both lived at the exact same times leading some to consider oxala to not be a new dinosaur but rather a new Spinosaurus species who might have reached South America via Africa since at the time the two continents were much closer than the they are today it's also possible that the ox AIA or rather a direct ancestor was in South America the whole time as roughly 140 million years ago it was physically connected to Africa and so a population of spinos Swords may have been divided as the two land masses split eventually giving rise to oxela in Brazil on top of all this there is yet another argument that oxela isn't even a new Spinosaurus species but simply a younger adult of the already described Spinosaurus aegyptiacus who hadn't finished growing yet for now it's still officially considered a valid genus with the strongest evidence of its uniqueness being the differences seen in its skulls as oxia had more tightly packed teeth a relatively thicker jaw and a more straighten snout compared to the spinosaurus nevertheless the similarities were still uncanny and it's widely believed that the two were very close relatives with paleontologist considering oxela to have been more closely related to the spinosaurus than to other Brazilian spinos swords typically the question surrounding its relation to the spinosaurus would be further solved by analyzing its entire skeleton although this is a bit tricky to do with oxala as its bones no longer exist because tragically after its Discovery all non recovered material was stored in what was Latin America's largest natural history museum which CAU fire in 2018 leading to the loss of 92.5% of its entire catalog which also included all the oxil bones and since then no more fossils of it have been Unearthed along with not being able to fully answer the question regarding its relation to the spinosaurus the destruction of the bones also means that we don't know much about its General appearance and paleontologists are not even 100% certain if it had a sail or just a ridge although due to its proposed close relationship to the spinosaurus most reconstructions and studies do assume that it did possess a sail which it could have used in a number of ways including heat regulation display and intimidation as it made individuals appear larger than they really were Beyond its sale paleontologist are thankfully able to tell with better confidence what this prehistoric nightmare was like as across all spine of Swords some features were Universal including extremely robust and powerfully built for liims like its relatives oxia would have had a giant set of stocky arms that were both equipped with relatively large claws with the first digit possessing a disproportionately long claw giving it the appearance of having hooks for hands and to go along with these deadly hooks the holotype showed that the oxala also had an enormous skull that somewhat resembled that of a modern crocodilian and could reach 1.35 M or 4.4 ft long making it bigger than the skull of the Acrocanthosaurus and within this giant skull its mouth was lined with over 40 sharp conical oval-shaped teeth this all paints a rather menacing picture and yet these character istics were actually more good news than bad news for coexisting dinosaurs as these traits seemingly made oxela better designed for fishing than killing dinosaurs specifically paleontologists believe that it used its large claws to slice and hook slippery large fish while his teeth further prevented Escape thanks to their conical nature Additionally the teeth were arranged in a rosette pattern which basically made them interlock while clamping down essentially creating a fish trap this pattern of teeth is also in fact seen in living animals today including the Indian gariel which is currently Earth's most pous crocodilian adding more fuel to the idea that oxala was indeed a master Fisher even its environment suggests a seafood lifestyle as many large fish similar and sometimes the exact same as those seen in the spinosaurus habitat lived alongside oxala as well including atlantico prus ancho prist Maia and stepan notice don't get confused though because in spite of its seemingly lackluster fishy diet oxala was not a dinosaur to be trifled with and it had no problem holding its own against terrestrial Predators thanks to its size and deadly claws its bite may have also been a decent deterrent with studies indicating a bite force roughly 20 times that of a wolf on top of this oxia had two replacement teeth in each socket allowing it to switch out damaged teeth and ensuring Peak sharpness while also suggesting it may have been used to attack animals with tough protections along with being no pushover enelia likely wasn't a strict pisor with the common thought being that overall anelia was an opportunistic carnivore that would prey on small to medium siiz dinosaurs and non-aquatic animals from time to time this is primarily based on findings seen in its relatives as the irritator is known to a pra upon parasaurs while a bionic specimen was found with both fish remains and the body of an iguana daed within its stomach adult Ox Alia most likely spent the better part of a day near sources of water where they could prow for fish while also being on the lookout for any terrestrial animals nearby that they could Ambush however this is where the confusion arises once again as if you know anything about spinos swords namely the spinosaurus then you know that no one agrees on to what level these guys were accustomed to water leading some to think that oxela was an Adept swimmer who was capable of deep diving for food while others are more conservative believing that it wouldn't have been a graceful swimmer being limited to swimming clunkily on the surface while preferring to stick to the coasts and waiting in shallow water and the most recent studies tend to back the waiting hypothesis more though this is still very heavily debated whatever the case we know that oxala to some degree did get wet as unlike other theropods its nostrils were positioned much farther up along its snout a design meant to help keep water out of of the nostrils when its head was partially submerged so while clearly having some adaptations meant for a watery life scientists believe that oxala was still surprisingly Adept on land even though it had Fairly shortened legs and was probably fast enough to catch an array of lumbering animals especially if it was employing Ambush which seems very probable considering its environment studies on the formation where it was found suggest that during the late Cretaceous oxia lived in a habitat not far from the coast that had a mix of fresh water and brackish water while the land itself was dominated by humid tropical forests where conifers Ferns and horsetails created thick canopies providing ample hiding places for all past these forests the Earth gave way to open areas that were much more brutal and dry holding an aid or semi-arid climate with periods of lengthy droughts being common animals typically try to avoid these areas but in the forest and Coastline life was extremely abundant leading to oxala living alongside many other dinosaurs including limosaurus malawisaurus osaurus a carodon sword two titanosaurs one abelisaur and a dromeosaur it also lived alongside other Spinosaurus one of which is undetermined while the other was sigilmassasaurus who came close in size to oxela and was the second largest Predator around but it is even more controversial than the spinosaurus is Twin with many thinking it may not be a new genus rather a synonym for another spinos sword in addition to dinosaurs and the previously mentioned fish non- dinosaurs were plentiful as well being represented by animals such as terrosaur kingas sucus Turtles and snakes much of the life found on these ancient lands were akin to What was seen in the kemkem formation of Northern Africa where the spinosaurus reigned mostly Supreme the similarities between the two formations are again thought to be a result of the connection that Brazil and Africa once had 140 million years ago the shared life ultimately proved useful for oxela as it provided the spinos sword with an ecosystem perfect for its skill set and fossil records show that it thrived there for millions of years from 100.5 million years ago to 93.9 million years ago when it then suddenly vanished from the fossil records its Extinction is pretty interesting considering that it died out around the exact same time with the spinosaurus which also marked the end of the spine of swords as far as we know no one is certain on what took these two out but one idea that is usually brought forth in the matter is that rising sea levels may have destroyed their preferred habitats triggering a slow Decline and leading oxela to have to compete with other terrestrial Hunters that were better adapted for hunting big game on the flip side another proposed hypothesis is that a long-standing drought killed off its prey and depleted freshwater sources and thus again leading to its final demise while it may be gone for good the ox Alia is still undeniably one of the most menacing therapods out there and it's a shame that it hasn't gotten as much attention on the big screen as its twin but the spinosaurus isn't the only one who had a lesser known relative with the T-Rex actually having an older brother so to speak and I actually made a video on that recently so if you found this one interesting go check that out and if you want to further support the channel don't forget to check out our hero hero where you'll get access to exclusive videos paleo art and more and like always thanks for watching and until next time on Extinct Zoo