The identify "Nigersaurus" has begun controversy and discussion during the scientific Local community and over and above because of its likely for misinterpretation and unintended connotations.
Nigersaurus (/niːˈʒɛərsɔːrəs, ˈnaɪdʒərsɔːrəs/) is usually a genus of rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur that lived throughout the center Cretaceous period of time, about a hundred and fifteen to a hundred and five million a long time ago. It was learned from the Elrhaz Formation in a place referred to as Gadoufaoua, in Niger.
A 2023 research by the French palaeontologist Rémi Lefebvre and colleagues examined the microanatomical framework of the limb bones of Nigersaurus by way of CT-scans, the first these kinds of analyze of a sauropod. Digital sections from the limb bones sampled from men and women of different measurements were being explored to determine the variety of variation. Heavy-fat bearing animals often have functions linked to this ailment, influencing the interior structure of your limb bones, however the variation amongst such bones is badly identified.
The authors thus cautioned versus working with semicircular canals as proxy to infer the exact orientation of skulls. They identified that diet regime correlated strongly with semicircular canal orientation, but not with head posture, whilst head posture and semicircular canal orientation ended up strongly correlated with phylogeny.[25]
Nigersaurus is considered to behave very similar to other herbivore sauropods. They had in all probability put in most in their time in hang-dog positions and grazing very low-lying vegetation.
Fossil evidence implies it lived in what is now the Sahara Desert, feeding on ferns and also other vegetation in its lush, riverine habitat.
The quick alternative of its teeth, just about every fourteen times, indicates the Nigersaurus faced major evolutionary pressures to maintain a relentless provide of functional teeth to cope with abrasive plant substance. This adaptation underlines the evolutionary very important to optimize feeding efficiency within an surroundings wherever food stuff resources various and Opposition was fierce.
We're not talking about AA Duracells right here. Dental batteries have been economical food stuff processing applications employed by lots of plant-having dinos.
Lifetime restoration Nigersaurus was unique in that its dorsal (back again) vertebrae experienced paired pneumatic spaces at the base on the neural spines (the spines that projected upwards with the vertebrae). The presacral vertebrae (vertebrae in front of the sacrum) had been greatly pneumatised to The purpose wherever the column consisted of a number of hollow "shells", each divided by a skinny septum in the middle. It experienced very little to no cancellous bone, generating the centra slender bone plates stuffed with air spaces. The vertebral arches have been so heavily pierced by extensions of your external air sacs that of their facet walls very little remained but two mm (0.
This bizarre, extensive-necked dinosaur is characterized by its unusually wide, straight-edged muzzle tipped with over 500 replaceable teeth. The first fossil skull of Nigersaurus
Its feeding model is compared to that of contemporary grazing animals or even a vacuum cleaner, since it most likely swept its head facet-to-facet whilst consuming vegetation.
The snout was also proportionately shorter, plus the tooth row was not at all prognathous, the snout tip not protruding relative to the remainder in the tooth sequence.[1] Nigersaurus was unique in that its frontal bone (which formed Significantly in the skull-roof) was elongate (A lot narrower than lengthy), and had a marked cerebral fossa (a depression on the area of the bone In the head).[4] The maxillary tooth row was in its entirety transversely rotated, its typical rear 90° everted to the entrance. This was matched by an identical rotation of the dentary of the decreased jaw. This transverse orientation with the upper and reduce tooth rows was distinctive into the dinosaur. As a consequence of this configuration, no other tetrapod experienced all of its teeth Positioned as much towards the entrance as Nigersaurus.[three][4]
Even though the nasal bones will not be absolutely recognized, it seems the front margin of your bony nostril was closer to the snout than in other diplodocoids. The snout was also proportionately shorter, plus the tooth row was by no means prognathous, the snout idea not protruding relative to the rest on the tooth series. Nigersaurus The maxillary tooth row was in its entirety transversely rotated, its normal rear ninety° everted towards the entrance. This was matched by A similar rotation with the dentary of the reduce jaw. As a result, no other tetrapod experienced all of its teeth Positioned as far to the entrance as
Skeletal diagram of Nigersaurus taqueti, illustrating acknowledged fossil elements and size comparison by using a human, depicting this Cretaceous sauropod's unique Bodily structure