In 1997, when paleontologist Paul Sereno first started to unearth the stays of a dinosaur in Niger’s Sahara Desert, he didn’t know what to suppose. He was excavating bones in a dry area known as Gadoufaoua, which had a wealthy fossil mattress first found by French uranium miners. There have been loads of gentle, aerated bones — normally related to theropods, like Tyrannosaurus rex, and the birds that developed from them — so the researchers assumed that was what they have been coping with.
As Sereno started to piece collectively the fossils, he realized it should be a sauropod, or long-necked dinosaur. A lot of the bones appeared pretty typical for long-necked dinosaurs —apart from its bizarrely-shaped head. Finally, again within the lab, Sereno needed to ask for a second opinion from colleagues who labored on fossil fish and different reptiles earlier than he figured it out.
There are loads of strange-looking dinosaurs on the market. However Nigersaurus taqueti (pronounced NI-juhr-SOR-us) would possibly sit on the prime of the listing. The sauropod’s jaw appears nearly like a big nail clipper, with massive rows of a whole bunch of enamel on its higher and decrease jaws. It nearly didn’t appear to suit into its cranium when Sereno was making an attempt to piece it collectively.
“It’s one thing that basically takes the cake for superb cranial variations on this group, the long-necked dinosaurs,” says Serano, a professor of paleontology on the College of Chicago. “It’s only a majestic instance of evolution.”
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What Did Nigersaurus Look Like?
Sauropod dinosaurs, like Nigersaurus, walked on 4 legs, with an extended “whiplash tail” and an extended neck. However in comparison with different sauropods, it was comparatively small — sitting someplace between an African and Indian elephant in measurement.
The dinosaur’s vertebrae was crammed with air pockets much like these of birds, so the dinosaur was seemingly fairly gentle, as properly. Its mind was concerning the measurement of a walnut, which is kind of common for sauropods, Sereno says.
Its head is what actually stands out about Nigersaurus, although. The jaws, which have a flat entrance, are lined with about 500 enamel, which Sereno says have been replaceable. These enamel have been all the identical in measurement, and he estimates that they most likely solely lasted a couple of month or so earlier than they have been worn down.
“That is the primary sauropod with a tooth battery,” Sereno says, including that its jaw would have been angled downwards fairly than forwards — which is why Sereno had such hassle becoming the bones collectively initially.
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What Did Nigersaurus Eat?
These enamel and the form of the sauropod’s cranium seemingly developed to assist it munch on crops low to the bottom. Grass wasn’t round but throughout its time, however Nigersaurus most likely spent a lot of its time grazing on one thing prefer it, sporting down its enamel very quickly.
“This can be a Mesozoic lawnmower,” Sereno says.
All advised, these have been a few of the most profitable herbivores on the planet, Sereno says. Nigersaurus lived about 110 million years in the past, throughout the Mesozoic Period, and the species was round for about 150 million years.
Nonetheless, the plant-eating sauropods would seemingly have supplied a terrific supply of meals for predators, provides Sereno. This seemingly included the long-snouted Suchomimus, a big spinosaur present in the identical fossil deposits as Nigersaurus.
What’s extra, identical to grazing cows right this moment, these creatures have been plentiful throughout their heyday. After the preliminary discovery, Sereno discovered one other Nigersaurus specimen throughout an expedition in 2000.
“This was the commonest herbivore of the day,” Sereno provides.
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Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed research and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors evaluation for scientific accuracy and editorial requirements. Overview the sources used under for this text:
PLOS One. Structural Extremes in a Cretaceous Dinosaur
Uncover Journal. How Sauropods Advanced to Their Huge Dimension
Nature. Dinosaurs munched on grassy snacks
Uncover Journal. Why Are Herbivore Dinosaurs Necessary, and What Can They Educate Us About Evolution?
PubMed. A Lengthy-Snouted Predatory Dinosaur from Africa and the Evolution of Spinosaurids
Paul Sereno. NIGERSAURUS