Introducing Nigersaurus
In the latter half of the dinosaur era, the continents drifted apart, allowing new dinosaur species to evolve in isolation—some of which were pretty bizarre.
This odd-looking African sauropod was named Nigersaurus taqueti in honor of the country where it was found, Niger, and the French paleontologist, Dr. Philippe Taquet, who was among the first to unearth dinosaur fossils in Niger.
Its very wide jaws are unique among dinosaurs: they are wider than the rest of the skull and packed with as many as 1,000 tiny teeth! Nigersaurus used its long neck like a crane to feed close to the ground. As teeth wore down from eating plants, new teeth replaced the old ones along both the upper and lower jaws.
Nigersaurus is a relative of North America’s Diplodocus. Scientists once thought that Diplodocus and all of its close relatives (called “diplodocoids”) died out at the end of the Jurassic period (about 150 million years ago). We now know that this is not true. Nigersaurus provides exciting new evidence that at least one group of these long-necked plant eaters survived into the Cretaceous period on southern continents like Africa.
The skull and skeleton of Nigersaurus are built of bones that are very thin and lightweight. In this life-size skeletal reconstruction, the delicate bones are a puzzle of CT scanned and prototyped bone, cast bone, and sculpted bone. Missing bones were sculpted based on comparisons to other sauropods and the fit of surrounding bones.
The Nigersaurus flesh reconstruction is sculpted over a skeletal cast for accuracy. The scale patterns are based on fossilized sauropod skin impressions. Life-like details such as saliva and bits of green, cropped leaves, cling to the muzzle and oral cavity; flakes of worn skin slough from the hide. |
