Nigersaurus was named once the West African region exactly where its fossils have already been located: The Republic of Niger. Back when this animal roamed, forests and braided rivers coated the landscape. (Nigersaurus would've needed to Be careful for Sarcosuchus, a tremendous relative of contemporary crocodiles.)
They consisted of vertically stacked columns of replaceable teeth. Each time the highest tooth wore out in any specified column, the one suitable under it would go upwards and take the aged tooth's place.
Lifestyle restoration Nigersaurus was distinct in that its dorsal (back again) vertebrae experienced paired pneumatic Areas at the base in the neural spines (the spines that projected upwards from your vertebrae). The presacral vertebrae (vertebrae before the sacrum) were being intensely pneumatised to The purpose where by the column consisted of the number of hollow "shells", each divided by a thin septum in the middle. It experienced minimal to no cancellous bone, earning the centra slender bone plates crammed with air Areas. The vertebral arches ended up so greatly pierced by extensions on the external air sacs that of their side partitions small remained but two mm (0.
The continues to be of Nigersaurus were being at first described by Taquet in 1976 as belonging to the dicraeosaurid, but in 1999 Sereno and colleagues reclassified it for a rebbachisaurid diplodocoid.[four] These researchers speculated that given that quick necks and modest sizing was known amongst basal diplodocoids, it might indicate these have been ancestral features of the group.
Nigersaurus is believed to behave very like other herbivore sauropods. That they had almost certainly invested most in their time in dangle-Puppy positions and grazing minimal-lying vegetation.
Based upon this biomechanical Assessment, the team concluded that The pinnacle and muzzle were habitually oriented sixty seven° downwards and shut to floor amount, being an adaptation for floor-degree browsing. That is as opposed to the best way other sauropods are already restored, with their heads held more horizontally.[three]
The snout was also proportionately shorter, along with the tooth row was not at all prognathous, the snout suggestion not protruding relative to the rest with the tooth collection.[1] Nigersaurus was distinct in that its frontal bone (which formed much of your cranium-roof) was elongate (Substantially narrower than extended), and experienced a marked cerebral fossa (a depression over the surface of the bone inside the head).[4] The maxillary tooth row was in its entirety transversely rotated, its normal rear ninety° everted to the front. This was matched by an identical rotation in the dentary of the decreased jaw. This transverse orientation of the higher and reduce tooth rows was distinctive to the dinosaur. Resulting from this configuration, no other tetrapod experienced all of its teeth Positioned as far for the front as Nigersaurus.[three][four]
Its cranium was really specialised for feeding. It experienced four big side fenestrae, openings in the skull and slim bones. It experienced a large muzzle stuffed with in excess of five hundred teeth, which have been replaced about each fourteen times. The jaws could possibly have had a keratinous sheath, anything like a vast beak. Nigersaurus is the only recognised tetrapod animal to acquire experienced jaws wider compared to the skull and teeth that prolonged laterally throughout the entrance.
Nigersaurus's feeding tactic was contrary to all kinds of other dinosaurs. Its wide, flat what dinosaur has 500 teeth jaw was tailored for grazing near to the ground, earning it the nickname "Mesozoic Cow."
The cranium of a Nigersaurus was manufactured from slim bones and had a lot of little openings and pores. These options provided them great versatility in feeding on the ground. The muzzle of your Nigersaurus was vast and long which aided it in taking in small floor-centered vegetation.
The name "Nigersaurus" has began controversy and discussion within the scientific Neighborhood and past on account of its likely for misinterpretation and unintended connotations.
Regardless of the memes, Nigersaurus remains an extraordinary example of evolution and adaptation, deserving recognition for its unique characteristics instead of Web controversy.
Nigersaurus is understood to have lived in what is now modern-working day Niger, Africa, as a result its identify. It was first discovered while in the early 2000s by a crew of paleontologists led by Paul Sereno.
Nigersaurus was named and described in additional element by Sereno and colleagues only in 1999, according to continues to be of recently found people. The exact same short article also named Jobaria, A different sauropod from Niger. The genus identify Nigersaurus ("Niger reptile") can be a reference on the region the place it was identified, and the specific title taqueti honours Taquet, who was the 1st to organise large-scale palaeontological expeditions to Niger.