Nigersaurus was named following the West African region exactly where its fossils happen to be discovered: The Republic of Niger. Back when this animal roamed, forests and braided rivers covered the landscape. (Nigersaurus would've needed to Be careful for Sarcosuchus, a large relative of recent crocodiles.)
All of the tooth columns in Nigersaurus' dental batteries were lined up, compared with the teeth of other dinosaurs, for the incredibly entrance of its mouth, positioned together the muzzle's gently curved periphery.
But a 3rd sauropod, the South American Antarctosaurus, might or might not are a kissing cousin at the same time.
Just like other Sauropods, Nigersaurus were being herbivores. They'd grazed close to the ground and ate reduced-lying vegetation. That they had a large muzzle which helped them in cropping far more vegetative materials in a single Chunk. Chances are you'll think they in all probability ate grass, however the grass hadn’t evolved all through that point.
e. Apatosaurus. Additionally they experienced predators that lived in the same region and one particular of their predators was theropoda.
Sauropod dinosaurs, like Nigersaurus, walked on four legs, that has a lengthy “whiplash tail” and a lengthy neck. But when compared with other sauropods, it absolutely was reasonably tiny — sitting someplace among an African and Indian elephant in size.
The enamel around the teeth of Nigersaurus was hugely asymmetrical, 10 times thicker about the outwards dealing with side than around the inner facet.
Nigersaurus (/niːˈʒɛərsɔːrəs, ˈnaɪdʒərsɔːrəs/) can be a genus of rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur that lived throughout the center Cretaceous period, about 500 teeth dinosaur one hundred fifteen to a hundred and five million years in the past. It was learned in the Elrhaz Development in a region referred to as Gadoufaoua, in Niger.
Nigersaurus's downward-experiencing mouth and broad dental arrangement counsel it grazed on floor-degree plants in lieu of searching significant vegetation.
The jaws could possibly have borne a keratinous sheath. Not like other tetrapods, the tooth-bearing bones of its jaws were being rotated transversely relative to the rest of the cranium, so that each one of its teeth had been Situated considerably on the entrance. Its skeleton was very pneumatised (filled with air spaces connected to air sacs), although the limbs have been robustly created.
It was a quadrupedal dinosaur, indicating that it walked on all fours. However, its legs have been rather quick compared to its physique. It is believed to are proficient at rearing up on its hind legs to be able to get to increased amounts of vegetation.
The adductor muscle in the jaw seems to acquire hooked up to your quadrate as opposed to the supratemporal fenestra. Both of those this and one other mastication muscles were being possible weak, and Nigersaurus is approximated to possess had among the list of weakest bites on the sauropods.[3] In addition, according to Whitlock and colleagues in 2011, the small, just about parallel mother nature with the tooth scratches and pits (a result of grit, which might not be acquired as generally by significant-browsers) point out that it ate reasonably delicate, herbaceous crops which include small-rising ferns.
The dinosaur's vertebrae was crammed with air pockets just like These of birds, And so the dinosaur was very likely fairly light-weight, at the same time. Its brain was in regards to the dimensions of the walnut, which happens to be kind of common for sauropods, Sereno says.
What's a lot more, similar to grazing cows currently, these creatures ended up considerable in the course of their heyday. After the initial discovery, Sereno discovered An additional Nigersaurus specimen in the course of an expedition in 2000.