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Head's Up! (It's possible) Due to the fact Nigersaurus ate with its head down, specialists have puzzled about its posture. Sereno and his co-authors when argued which the herbivore aimed its deal with and neck downwards — whether it had been feeding or not — being a subject of habit.
Fossils of this dinosaur have been first explained in 1976, but it absolutely was only named Nigersaurus taqueti in 1999, following additional plus more full stays were found and described. The genus title suggests "Niger reptile", and the specific name honours the palaeontologist Philippe Taquet, who learned the very first stays.
The Nigersaurus roamed the lush landscapes of the middle Cretaceous time period, in what is currently the Sahara Desert of Niger. This region, the moment teeming with existence, delivered a loaded tapestry of soppy, leafy vegetation which was ideal for the Nigersaurus’s specialized diet.
Nigersaurus and its closest family are grouped within the subfamily Rebbachisaurinae (formerly considered grouped during the eponymous Nigersaurinae) on the family members Rebbachisauridae, which can be Section of the sauropod superfamily Diplodocoidea. Nigersaurus was almost certainly a browser, and fed with its head near to the ground. The location of its brain that detected odor was underdeveloped, although its Mind dimensions was similar to that of other dinosaurs.
Nigersaurus, a rebbachisaurid sauropod from the middle Cretaceous time period, was discovered during the Elrhaz Formation in Niger. Its identify, which implies “Niger’s lizard,” was specified pursuing the invention of a lot more complete stays in 1999, Despite the fact that its fossils ended up initial described in 1976.
Nigersaurus's feeding system was as opposed to many other dinosaurs. Its wide, flat jaw was adapted for grazing near to the bottom, earning it the nickname "Mesozoic Cow."
lived in what is now Niger about a hundred and fifteen to one hundred and five million yrs ago, during the Aptian and Albian ages on the mid-Cretaceous. It most likely lived in habitats dominated by inland floodplains (a riparian zone).
Though walking across an exceptionally flat region, Gabe built a impressive find—the bones of a fresh meat-ingesting dinosaur lay partly uncovered at her toes. She brushed absent the sand in the upper jaw.
The cranium of the Nigersaurus was made from slim bones and experienced a lot of modest openings and pores. These features supplied them terrific flexibility in feeding on the ground. The muzzle on the Nigersaurus was huge and extensive which aided it in eating smaller ground-dependent vegetation.
The combination of its specialized anatomy plus the distinctive setting wherein it lived allow it to be an intriguing subject of research for paleontologists.
The jaws could have borne a keratinous sheath. Unlike other tetrapods, the tooth-bearing bones of its jaws were rotated transversely relative to the remainder of the skull, so that each one of its teeth were being Positioned much for the entrance. Its skeleton was remarkably pneumatised (stuffed with air Areas connected to air sacs), though the limbs ended up robustly developed.
Nevertheless, as pointed out, Nigersaurus had a continuing offer of latest teeth since they were being changed in the event the major tooth in a column wore out.
A 2023 study through the French palaeontologist Rémi Lefebvre and colleagues examined the microanatomical composition with the limb bones of Nigersaurus via CT-scans, the 1st this sort of examine of a sauropod. Digital sections in the limb bones sampled from persons of different sizes have been explored to what dinosaur has 500 teeth find out the choice of variation. Heavy-fat bearing animals normally have attributes connected to this affliction, influencing the internal construction from the limb bones, but the variation amongst these bones is badly recognized.