10th grade, Noble Street Charter
School
Pritzker College Preparatory
Michael stands in front of the “basket” portion of a hot air balloon
at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Photo E. Schroeter
ON ASSIGNMENT:
Nigersaurus
At the beginning of the Nigersaurus Delegation, I was more excited to just be in Washington, D.C. than learning about what Nigersaurus looked like or how much it truly affected theories about sauropods. But once I saw the finished construction of the model of Nigersaurus, it was astonishing to see. I learned about the height, length, and weight of Nigersaurus, and that it was discovered by Dr. Paul Sereno and his team in Niger. When they first discovered it, they thought it was a predator, but when they further studied it, they saw it was a sauropod—a long-necked dinosaur. They found that this was an entirely new species, once they saw the teeth and dug up the fossils. The fossils were very thin, and I thought that once they put together Nigersaurus, it would look like the other sauropods that I saw at The Field Museum. |
Michael examines a cast of Nigersaurus’ brain case.
Photo M. E. Perez |
I could not have been more wrong, for when the delegation got to National Geographic headquarters for the unveiling of Nigersaurus to the public, I saw how unique Nigersaurus really was. First, its head was closer to the floor, going down, not up like all the sauropods I had seen before! I really took the time to study the features of the dinosaur, and realized how I have never seen a dinosaur that had all its teeth in the front of its mouth—not even one tooth on the side or in the back.
Then I started asking questions like, “How could a long-necked dinosaur have its head to the ground instead of holding it up?” Dr. Sereno’s theory was that instead of eating leaves from tree branches, Nigersaurus was eating off the ground. I wondered how this was possible since there was no grass in the time period in which it lived. That is one of the questions I still have to discover. One good theory is that they ate ferns off the ground. Another thing that was interesting was how every month its teeth would be replaced with new ones, like a shark.
At first, I was expecting Nigersaurus to be another dinosaur that everyone was going to forget. Once I saw the reconstructed model of the body, it was not what I ever expected. It looked weird at first, before the thought sunk in that this was something new that countless people will marvel at and enjoy seeing up close. To children it will be something that they will love to see because of the shark-like tooth replacement and elephant-sized body, and to adults it will be another discovery. There are many unsolved questions about Nigersaurus that people are trying to answer. Things I thought at first ended up changing at the end of the delegation. Most importantly, my point of view on the real importance of Nigersaurus changed because it proved that this type of sauropod [diplodocoids] lived after people thought they died out.
The real difference for me was the discovery of how much of an impact this is going to have on the world. First, it shows how even though we thought [diplodocoids] died off at a certain time period, Nigersaurus shows that it didn’t—they lived even longer than what people thought. It also shows that people of all ages can learn that discoveries can happen anytime and that hard work pays off. It took 10 years for the entire process of Nigersaurus to formally be classified and modeled. Nigersaurus shows that the hard work of Dr. Sereno and his team paid off for the better of science. I am glad that Nigersaurus touched my life in a way I did not expect, since I now appreciate how assumptions will always change as new discoveries are made and that learning never ends. The lesson that I learned because of the delegation will be with me from now on, and it has showed me the importance of how what you think is not always true in the end.
REFLECTIONS OF A DELEGATE
11/12/07
What are your goals for yourself during this unveiling?
My goals for myself in going to D.C. will be that I see the Capitol for the first time. I always wanted to. Second, this trip will allow me to see many things that other people don’t always get to see, and to further my chance of going to a good college. This will help me be able to prove to myself that I can do something significant. To take my experiences and teach them to people I know. To meet many new people and to see scientific work of important people who spent years working for the good of science. To make myself known.
11/14/07
I told my friend that I was going to the unveiling of a new dinosaur species and she asked, “Why should I care?” What should I tell her?
I would tell her how Nigersaurus is a new dinosaur species. It lived 110 million years ago, and it is part of a sauropod group which was believed to have gone extinct 150 million years ago. This proves that diplodocoids did not go extinct that early. Then, further research of Nigersaurus shows that its head was positioned more to the ground and that it couldn’t raise it up very far. Dr. Paul Sereno’s theory is that this diplodocoid ate off the ground and not from high branches. This shows you how this dinosaur is unique. Its teeth were flat, and every month its teeth would be replaced. How many dinosaurs do that? I think Nigersaurus is the only dinosaur I know of that does. I’ve seen dinosaurs at The Field Museum, but when I saw Nigersaurus, I realized the importance of what makes Nigersaurus unique.
11/15/07
I used to think… But now I know…
I used to think that Nigersaurus was not going to look that much different from other sauropods, but once I saw it and Dr. Sereno explained the features, Nigersaurus was truly not like sauropods found in the past. This all helped me appreciate Nigersaurus a lot more than when I was first told about it. Looking at a complete Nigersaurus skeleton, I could tell how it was different from other dinosaurs that I had seen at The Field Museum.
Michael touches a piece of moon rock at
the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Photo K. Atman
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