That wide muzzle with its Nigersaurus teeth was great for scooping up ferns, horsetails and also other low-lying vegetation. And Together with the bountiful teeth, the dinosaur would've had no problems shearing through this vegetation.
Nigersaurus (/niːˈʒɛərsɔːrəs, ˈnaɪdʒərsɔːrəs/) is usually a genus of rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur that lived all through the middle Cretaceous interval, about one hundred fifteen to one zero five million years back. It had been discovered while in the Elrhaz Formation in a location referred to as Gadoufaoua, in Niger.
Initial discoveries of Nigersaurus fossils date back into the sixties, but it really was not until eventually the seventies that much more total remains were being uncovered. These stays had been formally studied and described by paleontologist Paul Sereno and his staff in 1999.
The stays of Nigersaurus had been to begin with described by Taquet in 1976 as belonging to a dicraeosaurid, but in 1999 Sereno and colleagues reclassified it being a rebbachisaurid diplodocoid.[4] These scientists speculated that given that small necks and little size was recognized amongst basal diplodocoids, it might show these ended up ancestral capabilities with the group.
Teeth at diverse development levels, Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia The slender teeth had a little bit curved tooth crowns, which ended up oval in cross-segment. The crowns ended up distinct in acquiring notable ridges around the margins in their midline and sides. The teeth while in the lower jaw may well are already twenty–30% lesser than Individuals in the upper jaw, but couple are recognized, and they're of unsure maturity. Aside from this, the teeth ended up identical.[4] Underneath each Energetic tooth there was a column of nine substitute teeth in the jaw.
Reconstructed skeleton of Nigersaurus, showcasing the dinosaur's one of a kind 500-tooth jaw structure and elongated physique.
With an astonishing five hundred teeth, this dinosaur gives a unique glimpse to the evolutionary adaptations of prehistoric creatures. Enable’s check out the world in the Nigersaurus and its intriguing dental anatomy.
We're not speaking about AA Duracells right here. Dental batteries were being efficient food processing resources used by many plant-ingesting dinos.
The teeth’s distinctive shape and arrangement were properly suited for its feeding habits. The slender, chisel-like teeth could competently snip off comfortable vegetation, and their rapid substitution ensured the dinosaur could continuously feed without the need of watching for new teeth to increase.
It experienced about 500 slim teeth in its jaw which were changed with new teeth in 2 weeks. Its higher jaw teeth were being greater than its decreased jaw teeth. Moreover, Its jaw was A lot broader when compared to the skull.
It even more argued the orientation on the semicircular canals varies considerably inside of modern day species, and is also for that reason not reputable for deciding head posture.[23] This was supported with the Spanish palaeontologist Jesús Marugán-Lobón and colleagues in the 2013 examine that proposed the approaches utilized by Sereno's crew have been imprecise, and that Nigersaurus habitually held its head like other sauropods.[24]
The snout was also proportionately shorter, and also the tooth row was by no means prognathous, the snout suggestion not protruding relative to the remainder in the tooth series.[1] Nigersaurus was unique in that its frontal bone (which shaped Significantly on the skull-roof) was elongate (Significantly narrower than extended), and had a marked cerebral fossa (a depression on the floor of this bone In the head).[4] The maxillary tooth row was in its entirety transversely rotated, its ordinary rear ninety° everted in the direction of the front. This was matched by The same rotation from the dentary from the lessen jaw. This transverse orientation of the higher and decreased tooth rows was unique to the dinosaur. Due to this configuration, no other tetrapod experienced all of its teeth Found as far for the front as Nigersaurus.[three][four]
This structure was among the the very first dinosaur skulls being digitally reconstructed utilizing CT scans, presenting unprecedented insights into its feeding mechanics.
Nigersaurus was likely a browser, and fed with its head close to the bottom. The region of its Mind that detected smell Nigersaurus was modest, although its brain sizing was similar to that of other dinosaurs. There have been debate on irrespective of whether its head was habitually held downwards, or horizontally like other sauropods.