A 2009 research via the British palaeontologist Mike P. Taylor and colleagues agreed that Nigersaurus was ready to feed with the downturned head and neck posture proposed because of the 2007 review, but contested that this was the habitual posture of your animal. The examine famous that the "neutral" head and neck posture of contemporary animals isn't going to always correspond to their habitual head posture.
They carved a block of rock that incorporated equally skulls, realizing complete well that it would weigh close to 600 kilos when encased in plaster.
Nigersaurus lived in what is currently the Sahara Desert over the mid-Cretaceous period of time, approximately 115 to 105 million several years ago, in a very lush, riverine habitat with considerable flora.
In Nigersaurus' situation, the upper jaws contained sixty columns of tiny, needle-formed higher teeth. And no less than 68 very sharp teeth were being current around the lower jaws. Tallied collectively, higher jaw and reduced jaw, the beast experienced in excess of 500 individual teeth.
It lived through a time if the area was coated in forests and braided rivers, and would have needed to watch out with the existence of Sarcosuchus, a giant relative of recent crocodiles.
Even though dwelling to other big herbivorous dinosaurs, it was also inhabited by theropods (a group of bipedal, 3-toed carnivorous dinosaurs that include Tyrannosaurus Rex
This Nigersaurus was a hatchling, almost certainly a lot less than a person yr from hatching when it died and was fossilized.
The trick lies inside the creature’s bones. Experts may need found out extra Nigersaurus fossils In case the animal experienced not experienced this kind of a delicate bone structure. As outlined by a review by Sereno et al. 2007, this creature had an incredibly lightweight skull. A lot of the bones in Nigersaurus
Skeletal diagram of Nigersaurus taqueti, illustrating acknowledged fossil elements and dimension comparison with a human, depicting this Cretaceous sauropod's special physical structure
“It’s something which truly will take the cake for incredible cranial adaptations in this group, the prolonged-necked dinosaurs,” states Sereno, a professor of paleontology in the University of Chicago. “It’s merely a majestic example of evolution.”
The adductor muscle from 500 teeth dinosaur the jaw appears to have attached to the quadrate in lieu of the supratemporal fenestra. Both this and another mastication muscles have been likely weak, and Nigersaurus is believed to acquire experienced one of many weakest bites of the sauropods.[three] Furthermore, In accordance with Whitlock and colleagues in 2011, the smaller, almost parallel nature of the tooth scratches and pits (because of grit, which might not be attained as generally by substantial-browsers) reveal that it ate reasonably comfortable, herbaceous crops for example lower-developing ferns.
Skeletal diagram exhibiting regarded features and size comparison Sereno and also the American palaeontologist Jeffrey A. Wilson offered the initial specific description on the skull and feeding adaptations in 2005.[1] In 2007, a more in depth description on the skeleton was posted by Sereno advertisement colleagues, based on a specimen learned 10 decades earlier. The fossils, along with a reconstructed skeleton mount along with a plastic model of the head and neck, were being subsequently offered with the Nationwide Geographic Modern society in Washington.
The vast muzzle of Nigersaurus was most likely an adaptation to its small-lying herbivorous eating plan, making it possible for it to simply scoop up and Obtain plant materials from the bottom.
Diplodocus skull for comparison Its cranium was very unique from Diplodocus, suggesting another feeding technique. It had many fenestrae (openings) and thin bones. It had a wide muzzle crammed with in excess of 500 teeth.