Nigersaurus and its closest kinfolk are grouped in the subfamily Rebbachisaurinae (previously regarded as grouped while in the eponymous Nigersaurinae) with the household Rebbachisauridae, and that is Portion of the sauropod superfamily Diplodocoidea. Nigersaurus was likely a browser, and fed with its head near to the bottom. The location of its Mind that detected smell was underdeveloped, Though its brain measurement was comparable to that of other dinosaurs.
Head's Up! (Possibly) Since Nigersaurus ate with its head down, industry experts have questioned about its posture. Sereno and his co-authors the moment argued the herbivore aimed its encounter and neck downwards — irrespective of whether it absolutely was feeding or not — for a subject of pattern.
Fossils of the dinosaur had been to start with explained in 1976, but it absolutely was only named Nigersaurus taqueti in 1999, right after further plus more entire stays had been uncovered and explained. The genus title indicates "Niger reptile", and the particular title honours the palaeontologist Philippe Taquet, who discovered the main stays.
Since numerous rebbachisaurids inhabited latitudes that might are tropical to subtropical in the Middle Cretaceous, this pneumaticity may have assisted the animals cope With all the quite significant temperatures. As outlined by Ibiricu and colleagues, this adaptation could be a rationale why rebbachisaurids were being the only real team of diplodocoids that survived to the Late Cretaceous.[21]
Consequently as 1 tooth wore down or broke off, A further was wanting to just take its location. This fast tooth substitute cycle, happening roughly each individual fourteen times, ensured that Nigersaurus often had purposeful teeth to course of action its food stuff.
This bizarre, long-necked dinosaur is characterised by its unusually broad, straight-edged muzzle tipped with over five hundred replaceable teeth. The initial fossil cranium of Nigersaurus has become the to start with dinosaur skulls to be digitally reconstructed from CT scans.
Comparable to other Sauropods, Nigersaurus were being herbivores. They had grazed close to the ground and ate lower-lying vegetation. They'd a broad muzzle which served them in cropping more vegetative material in one bite. You could Imagine they almost certainly ate grass, nevertheless the grass hadn’t progressed for the duration of that point.
Even though other large animals examined (for example rhinoceroses) experienced thick and variable bone cortices, the cortex of Nigersaurus was instead thin. These scientists proposed which the microanatomy of sauropods wasn't impacted by drastic selective pressure due to bearing excess weight, but that features like the columnar limbs (as observed in elephants), pneumaticity, and fleshy foot pads and cartilage relaxed stress within the bones. Additionally they suggested that sauropods could thus have been lighter in pounds than anticipated for his or her size, supporting the lowest entire body mass estimates for these dinosaurs.[22]
A 2015 cladistic examine by Wilsona and also the French palaeontologist Ronan Allain identified Rebbachisaurus alone to team with the nigersaurines, as well as authors instructed that Nigersaurinae was as a result a junior synonym of Rebbachisaurinae (considering that that name would have precedence).
Nigersaurus was named after the West African region exactly where its fossils were being uncovered: the Republic of Niger. Throughout this creature’s time, the landscape (now Element of the Sahara Desert) 500 teeth dinosaur is thought to happen to be included with forests and braided rivers.
In comparison, Nigersaurus was on the tiny aspect. What caught Everybody's awareness was the dinosaur's mug.
The jaws could possibly have borne a keratinous sheath. In contrast to other tetrapods, the tooth-bearing bones of its jaws were rotated transversely relative to the rest of the skull, so that all of its teeth had been located significantly on the front. Its skeleton was really pneumatised (crammed with air Areas linked to air sacs), but the limbs had been robustly designed.
Even the skies have been occupied – very long-winged flying pterosaurs swooped overhead, at times diving down to grab a delicious fish out from the river.
Nigersaurus is assumed to own lived in substantial herds and might have migrated more than long distances seeking meals.