Nigersaurus
Stats
Age : 110 million years honest-to-god
Location : niger
Notes
Nigersaurus is a 30-foot-long plant-eating dinosaur that lived 110 million years ago in what is now Niger ’ s Sahara Desert. Nigersaurus lived in a exuberant environment alongside the marauding dinosaur Suchomimus, the plant eaters ouranosaurus and lurdusaurus, and supercroc. Nigersaurus had a delicate skull and an extremely wide talk lined with teeth particularly adapted for browsing plants close to the land. This bizarre, long-necked dinosaur is characterized by its unusually broad, straight-edged gag tipped with more than 500 replaceable teeth. The original fossil skull of Nigersaurus is one of the first dinosaur skulls to be digitally reconstructed from CT scans.
Journal Entry: Sept 9, 2000
update on Dinosaur Discoveries from Paul Sereno
Camp 1
Gadoufaoua 11:30 prime minister
Bizarre 500-toothed dinosaur
Our first workweek in the field has been spectacular ! remarkable discoveries seem to be waiting for us around every dune. On our first day, we found bones of the long-necked dinosaur Nigersaurus. Nigersaurus, you might remember, we named for bones collected on the final excursion here three years ago. This sauropod ( long-necked dinosaur ) has an unusual skull containing american samoa many as 500 slender teeth. A major goal of this excursion is to find the rest of this strange dinosaur so we can describe it and reconstruct it for everyone to see .
We are closing in on that goal fast because we came upon a skeleton a few days former ! This skeleton is lying on its side with the tail curved up. The curve of the anchor measures about 15 feet. We carefully brushed the backbone off the 110 million-year-old bones and jab channels between the major areas of the skeleton. soon we will cover each sphere in poultice so that the skeleton can be transported out of the sphere and back to the testing ground .
But that ’ s not all for Nigersaurus. Chris took us all to a flat area of purple-colored sandstone where he had located the upper jaw of a baby Nigersaurus—one that would fit on peak of a silver dollar ! This Nigersaurus was a hatchling, probably less than one class from hatching when it died and was fossilized.
A new carnivore
While walking across a very apartment area, Gabe made a noteworthy find—the bones of a new flesh-eating dinosaur lay partially exposed at her feet. She brushed aside the backbone from the upper chew. Nearby lay part of the backbone and the pelvis bones. This was a mean customer—the bones are from a skeletal system that would measure about 30 feet long ! We hope to find more attest of this sharp-toothed creature as the field temper goes on .
A huge crocodile
We are interested in finding more than just dinosaurs. We want to find all animals and plants that once lived along the ancient streams and forests 110 million years ago. One of the most common fossils we encountered in the first week of influence belonged to an enormous crocodile called Sarcosuchus .
This reptile was far larger than any know crocodile. Judging from the 6-foot skull we found in the first workweek, we suspect it may have measured over 40 feet long ! The armor plates on its binding measured a foot across. We tied laid out the team to get a sense of equitable how big this animal was.
Hans has been working with a crew of Allison and Dave to excavate a newfangled site. As we dug around the skull, we uncovered another juvenile skull of the lapp species lying right adjacent to the big one. They carved a block of rock that included both skulls, knowing fully well that it would weigh around 600 pounds when encased in plaster .
so I think you might agree that the foremost week here has been a thriller .
Paul Sereno
