A 2009 examine by the British palaeontologist Mike P. Taylor and colleagues agreed that Nigersaurus was in the position to feed Using the downturned head and neck posture proposed with the 2007 analyze, but contested that this was the habitual posture from the animal. The review observed that the "neutral" head and neck posture of modern animals isn't going to necessarily correspond to their habitual head posture.
Nigersaurus probably used its dental batteries to competently system lower-lying vegetation like ferns and horsetails, which it gathered with its vast muzzle. It most likely fed at floor stage as a result of its limited neck, and its teeth would've worn out speedily from shearing via difficult vegetation.
Every one of the tooth columns in Nigersaurus' dental batteries ended up lined up, as opposed to the teeth of other dinosaurs, for the incredibly entrance of its mouth, positioned alongside the muzzle's gently curved periphery.
Its skull was extremely specialised for feeding. It had 4 significant aspect fenestrae, openings while in the skull and slim bones. It had a large muzzle filled with much more than 500 teeth, which were being replaced close to every fourteen days. The jaws could have had a keratinous sheath, a little something like a large beak. Nigersaurus is the sole regarded tetrapod animal to have experienced jaws broader as opposed to skull and teeth that prolonged laterally throughout the entrance.
On The premise of microtomography scans of skull aspects from the holotype specimen, Sereno and colleagues created a "prototype" Nigersaurus skull they could look at. They also manufactured an endocast of your brain and scanned the semicircular canals of its internal ear, which they identified to get oriented horizontally. Inside their 2007 examine, they mentioned which the construction in the occiput in the back of the skull and cervical vertebrae would've constrained the upward and downward movement on the neck along with the rotation with the skull.
This intriguing variation showcases the various tactics dinosaurs developed to prosper within their environments. The Nigersaurus’s fast tooth substitute, taking place each and every 14 times, can also be impressive, environment it aside from other sauropods that experienced slower tooth turnover.
Sauropod dinosaurs, like Nigersaurus, walked on four legs, by using a extended “whiplash tail” and a lengthy neck. But when compared to other sauropods, it had been rather modest — sitting somewhere involving an African and Indian elephant in dimension.
Even though other hefty animals examined (which include rhinoceroses) had thick and variable bone cortices, the cortex of Nigersaurus was somewhat slim. These researchers advised which the microanatomy of sauropods was not afflicted by drastic selective tension brought on by bearing pounds, but that attributes like the columnar limbs (as witnessed in elephants), pneumaticity, and fleshy foot pads and cartilage relaxed stress to the bones. They also prompt that sauropods may well thus happen to be lighter in fat than expected for their dimensions, supporting the bottom overall body mass estimates for these dinosaurs.[22]
Skeletal diagram exhibiting recognized factors and dimensions comparison Sereno as well as American palaeontologist Jeffrey A. Wilson furnished the very first comprehensive description in the skull and feeding adaptations in 2005.[one] In 2007, a far more detailed description with the skeleton was revealed by Sereno advert colleagues, based on a specimen found out ten many years before. The fossils, along with a reconstructed skeleton mount and also a plastic model of The pinnacle and neck, were subsequently introduced within the National Geographic Culture in Washington.
The Nigersaurus, with its incredible dental variety of five hundred slender teeth as well as a broad, squared-off muzzle, serves being a amazing window in the evolutionary paths that dinosaurs took to adapt to their environments. This specialized feeder, not like a lot of its sauropod relatives, advanced to snip and eat soft, ample vegetation near the bottom, revealing a singular specialized niche inside the Cretaceous ecosystem.
One of the most exclusive characteristics of Nigersaurus was its rows of small, peg-like teeth, which had been arranged within a straight line alongside the entrance of its jaws. These teeth were continually changed through the dinosaur’s lifetime, allowing for it to feed constantly on tricky vegetation.
Skeletal diagram displaying regarded aspects and sizing comparison Sereno as well as American palaeontologist Jeffrey A. Wilson offered the first in depth description in the cranium and feeding adaptations in 2005.[1] In 2007, a far more in-depth description of the skeleton was revealed by Sereno ad colleagues, according to a specimen found ten a long time earlier. The fossils, in addition to a reconstructed skeleton mount in addition to a plastic model of The pinnacle and neck, have been subsequently presented in the Nationwide Geographic Culture in Washington.
Even the skies had been occupied – very long-winged traveling pterosaurs swooped overhead, occasionally diving down what dinosaur has 500 teeth to grab a tasty fish out in the river.
A 2023 examine via the French palaeontologist Rémi Lefebvre and colleagues examined the microanatomical structure on the limb bones of Nigersaurus as a result of CT-scans, the main this sort of analyze of a sauropod. Virtual sections of your limb bones sampled from individuals of different dimensions were explored to ascertain the array of variation. Significant-excess weight bearing animals generally have functions related to this issue, impacting the interior structure in the limb bones, but the variation involving this sort of bones is improperly recognized.