Nigersaurus experienced a remarkable dental battery consisting of close to five hundred slim, carefully packed teeth, arranged in rows along its wide, flat jaw.
Nigersaurus didn't show the exact same modifications witnessed inside the jaws of other dinosaurs with dental batteries, or mammals with elaborate chewing features. The reduce jaw was L-shaped and divided in the subcylindrical transverse ramus, which contained the teeth, along with the again ramus, which was a lot more lightweight and was The situation for most of the muscle mass attachments. It had been distinctive in which the tooth row expanded to the sides in the plane of the leading ramus of the lessen jaw.
A 2023 research via the French palaeontologist Rémi Lefebvre and colleagues examined the microanatomical construction of your limb bones of Nigersaurus by means of CT-scans, the main these kinds of study of the sauropod. Virtual sections on the limb bones sampled from individuals of various dimensions have been explored to ascertain the array of variation. Heavy-fat bearing animals often have functions associated with this condition, affecting the interior structure on the limb bones, though the variation involving this kind of bones is poorly acknowledged.
The Nigersaurus roamed the lush landscapes of the middle Cretaceous period, in what is now the Sahara Desert of Niger. This space, when teeming with daily life, offered a abundant tapestry of soft, leafy vegetation which was ideal for the Nigersaurus’s specialised food plan.
It absolutely was found during the wealthy fossil vertebrate fauna on the Elrhaz Development in an area named Gadoufaoua, in the Republic of Niger. Fossils of this dinosaur have been initial explained in 1976, but it was only named in 1999 soon after additional total stays ended up discovered and described.
The review of dinosaurs like Nigersaurus helps us to higher understand the history of our World along with the vital position that these historic creatures performed in shaping the entire world as we understand it nowadays.
With an astonishing five hundred teeth, this dinosaur gives a novel glimpse in to the evolutionary adaptations of prehistoric creatures. Allow’s take a look at the earth of the Nigersaurus and its intriguing dental anatomy.
Nigersaurus are famous dinosaurs for having 500 slender teeth in their jaw. These dinosaurs happen to be identified not long ago from the 12 months 2000 and ended up named in the honour of place “Niger”. The term Nigersaurus has two parts; Niger (state identify), and Saurus (reptile).
The lizard from Niger was a comparatively small sauropod, measuring all around nine meters (30 ft) in length and weighing about 4 tons. It experienced a lengthy neck and tail, with a short, narrow snout that was tailored for searching on reduced-lying vegetation.
And what a skeleton it had been! The newfound fossils gave us our to start with look at the dino's difficult dental batteries and vacuum cleaner mouth. Sereno named the species Nigersaurus taqueti — as an homage to French paleontologist Philippe Taquet — in 1999.
The wide muzzle of Nigersaurus was very likely an adaptation to its small-lying herbivorous diet plan, allowing for it to simply scoop up and Obtain plant product from the bottom.
Close by lay A part of the spine along with the hip bones. This was a mean 500 teeth dinosaur client—the bones are from the skeleton that may measure about 30 ft extensive! We hope to locate more proof of this sharp-toothed creature as the field period goes on.
Dinosaur-hunters are used to locating dental batteries in beaked herbivores similar to the horned Triceratops and shovel-billed Edmontosaurus. Nonetheless they're exceptional Amongst the sauropods.
Utilizing proof from CT scans and 3D/Laptop or computer modeling, researchers have determined the sauropod probable habitually held its head downwards, towards the ground — Though This is often hotly debated.