In 1997, when paleontologist Paul Sereno initially started to discover the remains of a dinosaur in Niger's Sahara Desert, he didn't understand what to believe. He was excavating bones in a dry area called Gadoufaoua, which had an abundant fossil bed initially found by French uranium miners. There were a great deal of light, oxygenated bones– typically related to theropods, like Tyrannosaurus rex, and the birds that progressed from them– so the scientists presumed that was what they were handling.
As Sereno started to piece together the fossils, he recognized it should be a sauropod, or long-necked dinosaur. The majority of the bones appeared relatively normal for long-necked dinosaurs– other than for its bizarrely-shaped head. Ultimately, back in the laboratory, Sereno needed to request a consultation from coworkers who dealt with fossil fish and other reptiles before he figured it out.
There are a great deal of strange-looking dinosaurs out there. Nigersaurus taqueti (noticable NI-juhr-SOR-us) may sit at the top of the list. The sauropod's jaw looks nearly like a big nail clipper, with big rows of numerous teeth on its upper and lower jaws. It nearly didn't appear to suit its skull when Sereno was attempting to piece it together.
“It's something that truly takes the cake for fantastic cranial adjustments in this group, the long-necked dinosaurs,” states Sereno, a teacher of paleontology at the University of Chicago. “It's simply a stunning example of advancement.”
Find out more: Top 5 Weirdest Dinosaurs: What Was Mother Nature Thinking?
What Did Nigersaurus Look Like?
Sauropod dinosaurs, like Nigersaurus, strolled on 4 legs, with a long “whiplash tail” and a long neck. Compared to other sauropods, it was reasonably little– sitting someplace in between an African and Indian elephant in size.
The dinosaur's vertebrae was filled with air pockets comparable to those of birds, so the dinosaur was most likely rather light. Its brain had to do with the size of a walnut, which is basically typical for sauropods, Sereno states.
Its head is what actually stands out about Nigersaurus. The jaws, which have a flat front, are lined with about 500 teeth, which Sereno states were exchangeable. These teeth were all the very same in size, and he approximates that they most likely just lasted about a month approximately before they were used down.
“This is the very first sauropod with a tooth battery,” Sereno states, including that its jaw would have been angled downwards rather than forwards– which is why Sereno had such difficulty fitting the bones together.
Learn more: The Time of Giants: How Did Dinosaurs Get So Big?
What Did Nigersaurus Eat?
These teeth and the shape of the sauropod's skull most likely developed to assist it chew on plants low to the ground. Lawn wasn't around yet throughout its time, however Nigersaurus most likely invested much of its time grazing on something like it,
