After the Reddit joke “don’t research the internet with what dinosaur has 500 teeth” went popular, the Nigersaurus became an online viral meme craze. A simple google auto-suggestion frequently triggers unusual events that pique public interest in a certain problem or subject. The Nigersaurus is in a similar situation. This voracious dinosaur, which lived 115 million years ago in Niger, a small West African country, was nothing like the meme! So, how did this one-of-a-kind dinosaur appear in its prime? And how did it come to light? So, here’s a quick rundown on the fabled “dinosaur with 500 fangs.”
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Discovery
Nigersaurus was initially reported in a study paper by Phillippe Taquet in 1976. During an expedition in the Republic of Niger in 1965-1972, this French palaeontologist uncovered the remains. However, because there was no complete skeleton, the find was frequently overlooked.
Near 1999, Paul Sereno, an American palaeontologist from Chicago University, led an excursion to the Elrahz Formation in Gadoyfaoua, Niger. He discovered the skeleton of this carnivorous dinosaur in its entirety. In 2007, Sereno and his colleague Jeffrey A. Wilson published another paper on the Nigersaurus skull and feeding behaviour. He also gave the National Geographic Society in Washington a complete plastic model of the dinosaur’s head.
After the Reddit joke “don’t research the internet with what dinosaur has 500 teeth” went popular, the Nigersaurus became an online viral meme craze. A simple google auto-suggestion frequently triggers unusual events that pique public interest in a certain problem or subject. The Nigersaurus is in a similar situation. This voracious dinosaur, which lived 115 million years ago in Niger, a small West African country, was nothing like the meme! So, how did this one-of-a-kind dinosaur appear in its prime? And how did it come to light? So, here’s a quick rundown on the fabled “dinosaur with 500 fangs.”
He also went into great detail about how the crew discovered this one-of-a-kind dinosaur with 500 teeth. “While going across a relatively flat terrain, Gabe made a startling find—the bones of a new plant-eating dinosaur were partially exposed at her feet,” according to his report. The sand from her top jaw was brushed away. Parts of the backbone and hip bones were found nearby. The bones are from a skeleton that would be roughly 30 feet long, so this was a nasty client! As the field season progresses, we hope to find additional evidence of this sharp-toothed critter.”
Other fossils connected to this 500-toothed dinosaur have also been identified in Brazil. However, a full fossil has yet to be discovered. As a result, creating a complete skeleton of the legendary Nigersaurus proved difficult. Nonetheless, palaeontologists are doing their best to do in-depth research in order to learn more about this ancient millennia mammal.
What’s with the name?
Because of its unusual name, Nigersaurus has been a target for online memes. However, upon closer inspection, the term is a scientific method of naming dinosaurs. Nigersaurus taqueti is the scientific name for this dinosaur, which belongs to the genus “Nigersaurus,” which means “Niger reptile” or “Niger reptile” (republic of niger).
The name also honours Phillippe Taqueti, who was the first to mention this dinosaur.
Do you think it had 500 teeth?
Technically speaking, it did. The skull of Nigersaurus possessed 500 thin teeth. All of these teeth, however, were not permanent. Nigersaurus possessed 500 teeth in all, including permanent and replacement teeth!
What did this 500-toothed dinosaur look like?
In a nutshell, Nigersaurus is related to Sauropods. It had a smaller skull, ticker hind legs, and a tail, much like every other dinosaur. It was barely 9 metres tall, with a 1 metre femur. They must have weighed 4 tonnes, according to palaeontologists. As a result, a Nigersaurus could have been the same height and weight as a modern elephant. It has a short neck with only thirteen cervical vertebrae due to its body composition.
Its cranium
The Fenestra holes in the skull of Nigersaurus are larger than those of other dinosaurs with longer necks. The cranium, on the other hand, was sturdy enough to withstand the shearing of the 500 teeth. Its nostrils were also bony and elongated.
They had shorter snouts. Nigersaurus, on the other hand, had shorter snouts. Their snot tip was proportional to the tooth series and their tooth row was not prognathous. The Nigersaurus had an extended skull with a significant depression in the brain area, which was another distinguishing trait. In addition, their maxillary tooth was rotated in the same way as its lower jaw. Their mouth was able to contain all 500 teeth because of this unique feature.
Their teeth were perfectly suited to their carnivorous lifestyle. The lower jaw teeth were 20-30% smaller than those in the upper jaw. The teeth also featured uneven enamel and bent tooth crowns (thicker on the outside). It enabled them to uproot plants from the ground.
Body
This dinosaur was described by Paul Sereno as an ancient crocodile. It possessed one foot of armour plates on its back. Between the pneumatic apertures are thick fascinating laminae with extensively perforated vertebral arches. There were no firm centra in the vertebrae of its tail. Only a few millimetres separated the pelvic and pectoral progle bones. It had powerful limbs, just as other sauropods or elongated dinosaurs. The front lends may have been two-thirds the length of the hind legs, a diplodocus characteristic.
Classification of the 500-toothed dinosaur
Nigersaurus was first included as a dicraeosaurus by Touquet. Sereno, on the other hand, classed it as a rebbachisaurid diplodocoid. According to him, it also had shorter necks, which was a rebbachisaurid diplodocoid characteristic.
This is how scientists classify it.
- Animalia kingdom
- Chordata Phylum
- Dinosauria Clade
- Saurischia Clade
- Sauropodomorpha Clade
- Sauropoda Clade
- Diplodocoidea (superfamily)
- Rebbachisauridae family
- Suriname’s Rebecchi subfamily
- Nigersaurus (genus)
- Nigersaurus taqueti (species)
What did it consume?
Nigersaurus was assumed to be a herbivore at first. However, like any other sauropod, it is assumed to be a herbivore. Minor parallel tooth scrapes with pits are present. This is common in herbivores who eat ferns, weeds, and other low-level plants. During this time, grass did not evolve. As a result, this 500-toothed dinosaur lived by eating horsetails, angiosperms, ferns, and other plants. Due to their rigid neck and height, they did not eat cycads, aquatic vegetation, or conifers.
They are comparable to modern flamingos. Like these pink birds, Nigersaurus may have used its teeth as a comb to sift out water ferns and other plants while feeding. However, according to Sereno, nigersaurus may have also eaten short conifers and other ground-level vegetation.
It couldn’t chew plants well because of the lateral placement of its teeth. As a result, their teeth began to rot quickly. As a result, they required this large quantity of 500 teeth to ensure that the bad teeth were replaced with new and functional ones. They have a faster rate of tooth replacement than any other herbivore dinosaur!
Where did it call home?
Nigersaurus lived in Gadoufaoua, Republic of Niger, in the Elhaz Formation of the Tegma group. Fluvial sandstones with low reliefs and occasional dunes with coarse-medium grains are found in this area. During the Mic-cretaceous period, however, this area was a floodplain. The wetlands provided it with enough food from the ground vegetation to keep it alive.
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