As it had been a prey animal, it was very important for Nigersaurus to own movement hypersensitivity to detect any likely threats.
Named after the nation of Niger, where its fossils have been 1st located. The name was picked out to mirror its origins, even so, the similarity in pronunciation to some racial slur has lifted concerns about cultural sensitivity and suitable terminology.
In conclusion, Nigersaurus was a novel and interesting dinosaur that lived in the Late Cretaceous period of time in what is now Niger. Its rows of very small teeth and specialised jaw construction designed it properly-suited for searching on low-lying vegetation, and its fossils serve as a beneficial supply of information about the range of daily life that existed on Earth a lot of years in the past.
But that’s not all for Nigersaurus. Chris took us all to some flat area of purple-colored sandstone where he experienced Situated the upper jaw of the child Nigersaurus—a single that would in shape on top of a silver dollar!
There has been discussion on irrespective of whether its head was habitually held downwards, or horizontally like other sauropods. It lived inside of a riparian habitat, and its diet program possibly consisted of soft crops, like ferns, horsetails, and angiosperms. It really is Probably the most prevalent fossil vertebrates identified in the area, and shared its habitat with other dinosaurian megaherbivores, together with massive theropods and crocodylomorphs.
lived in what is now Niger about one hundred fifteen to 105 million many years in the past, throughout the Aptian and Albian ages with the mid-Cretaceous. It most likely lived in habitats dominated by inland floodplains (a riparian zone).
in 1999, immediately after further more and much more finish continues to be were identified and explained. The genus identify means "Niger reptile", and the specific name honours the French palaeontologist Philippe Taquet, who learned the main remains.
Nigersaurus are renowned dinosaurs for getting 500 slender teeth within their jaw. These dinosaurs are regarded not too long ago within the calendar year 2000 and were named in the honor of region “Niger”. The word Nigersaurus has two elements; Niger (region title), and Saurus (reptile).
On the other hand, as talked about, Nigersaurus experienced a relentless source of latest teeth because they have been replaced if the top tooth in the column wore out.
And what a skeleton it absolutely was! The newfound fossils gave us our first look at the dino's challenging dental batteries and vacuum cleaner mouth. Sereno named the species Nigersaurus taqueti — being an homage to French paleontologist Philippe Taquet — in 1999.
Nigersaurus and its closest family are grouped throughout the 500 teeth dinosaur subfamily Rebbachisaurinae (formerly regarded as grouped while in the eponymous Nigersaurinae) of your family members Rebbachisauridae, which can be Section of the sauropod superfamily Diplodocoidea. Nigersaurus was likely a browser, and fed with its head near the ground. The location of its brain that detected smell was underdeveloped, Even though its brain measurement was similar to that of other dinosaurs.
Paleontologists feel that their behavior could be in comparison with nowadays’s cows. Nigersaurus had been social and remained herds like a security method. Resulting from insufficient fossil evidence, the copy strategy of Nigersaurus isn't acknowledged.
Dental batteries are a singular adaptation located in some plant-ingesting dinosaurs that allowed them to competently course of action hard vegetation. These batteries encompass vertically stacked columns of teeth, Along with the prime tooth in Each and every column becoming changed because it wears out.
The Nigersaurus was a ground-level browser. Its extensive muzzle, combined with its many teeth, permitted it to take in large quantities of vegetation in a single Chunk. The orientation of its teeth, all positioned with the entrance of its jaws, enabled it to proficiently crop and Collect food items near to the ground.