The Nigersaurus (stated ‘nee-their-sore-rus), which interprets as “Niger lizard” or “Niger reptile,” became a dinosaur living at some stage in the early cretaceous length, some 121-ninety nine million years in the past.
This unique Dinosaur has become recognized for having extra than 500 teeth with a purely herbivorous eating regimen. The plant-eating Nigersaurus was a genus of sauropods – very huge herbivores that walked mostly on four legs. Other remarkable sauropods encompass the brachiosaurus and the diplodocus.
This sauropod was 15 meters (30 toes long) and is said to have weighed between 4-five lots. To compare, an African elephant weighs in at around four tons.
The origins of the Dinosaur are from what we now recognize as imperative northern Africa, with numerous postcranial bones being determined in Niger, Algeria, and Tunisia. Remains have considerably been discovered in the Elrhaz Formation, a place of valuable Niger known as Gadoufaoua.
Journal Entry: Sept nine, 2000
Update on Dinosaur Discoveries from Paul Sereno
- Camp 1
- Gadoufaoua 11:30 pm
- Bizarre 500-toothed Dinosaur
Our first week in the field has been wonderful! Remarkable discoveries appear to be expecting us around every dune. On our first day, we located bones of the long-necked Dinosaur Nigersaurus. Nigersaurus, you would possibly recall, we named for bones gathered at the closing excursion here three years in the past. This sauropod (long-necked Dinosaur) has an unusual skull containing as many as 500 slender teeth. A primary intention of this expedition is to find the rest of this uncommon Dinosaur so we can describe it and reconstruct it for every person to look at.
We are final on that goal rapidly because we came upon a skeleton some days later! This skeleton is lying on its aspect with the tail curved upward. The curve of the backbone measures about 15 feet. We cautiously brushed the sand off the 110 million-12 months-vintage bones and dug channels among the important regions of the skeleton. Soon we will be able to cowl every location in plaster so that the skeleton may be transported out of the sector and back to the laboratory.
But that’s not taken with Nigersaurus. Chris took us all to a flat vicinity of crimson-colored sandstone wherein he had located the higher jaw of a baby Nigersaurus—one that could match on top of a silver dollar! This Nigersaurus changed into a hatchling, in all likelihood less than 12 months from hatching while it died and turned into fossilized.
Size of the 500 Teeth Dinosaur
Comparable in size to a current African elephant, Nigersaurus was a medium-sized quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaur. His frame turned 9 meters lengthy, and his femur became 1 meter. Paleontologists estimate it weighed around 4 tons as a grownup. 🦕
It turned characterized with the aid of a small head, a quite short neck, wide hind legs, and a long tail. Its skull was designed for clean feeding, and its bones had been skinny.
Nigersaurus had a wide, “suction slit” formed mouth. It contained more than 500 pieces of enamel, which have been changed approximately every 14 days. The skin of this Dinosaur became brown, and its stomach turned lighter in coloration.
The behavior of the Dinosaur with 500 Teeth
Nigersaurus turned into a social sauropod that would stay with several different dinosaurs. Among these, we discover other big herbivorous dinosaurs, large theropods (carnivorous dinosaurs), and crocodylomorphs. Given its size, it is only sometimes excluded that it had predators.
How did Nigersaurus get its call?
The dunes of the Sahara Desert gave an upward push to a new and weird dinosaur. An elephant-sized creature with a skull and jaws, but not like anything scientists have ever visible. That Dinosaur would pass on to be called Nigersuarus.
It became the nickname the “Mesozoic Cow,” as many paleontologists believe their behavior was similar to that of modern cows.
Nigersaurus, stated as “NYE-jer-SORE-us” and derived from “Niger” (the nation wherein it was found) and the Greek “sauros,” meaning lizard (making it “Niger’s lizard” or “Niger reptile”), become one of the oldest sauropodomorph herbivore dinosaurs ever located.
What did Nigersaurus devour?
With its shovel-formed mouth, which contained over 500 teeth, it became flawlessly equipped to consume big amounts of flowers as it walked along. It is believed that Nigersaurus’s head might have nearly been constantly on the floor, possibly devouring as much as a soccer discipline’s worth of vegetation in an unmarried day.
Many paleontologists trust that Nigersaurus 500 tooth arrangement served similar to a comb as properly. Nigersaurus might also have filtered and eaten water flora using a comb-like procedure to forestall it from ingesting dust and dirt. However, some scientists accept that it virtually used its tooth to cut vegetation and then sucked it in a vacuum-like motion because of the fragility of its jawbones.
Unfortunately, as the surroundings changed, mixed flowers replaced the specialized grasses to which it had grown in particular adapted. Nigersaurus didn’t adapt to its environment and, in the end, went extinct.
Discovery
Phillippe Taquet first referred to Nigersaurus in a research paper in 1976. This French paleontologist first determined the remains in 1965-1972 during an expedition in the Republic of Niger. But, because there was no longer an entire skeleton, the discovery often went unnoticed.
Paul Sereno, an American paleontologist from Chicago University, conducted an excursion in 1999 in the Elrahz Formation, Gadoyfaoua, within the Republic of Niger. He unearthed a whole skeleton of this carnivorous Dinosaur. Sereno and his colleague Jeffrey A. Wilson again supplied a description of the Nigersaurus skull and feeding behavior in 2007. He also presented a plastic model of the Dinosaur’s head to the National Geographic Society in Washington.