Desk Unrelated, Delhi Magazine: Among the most remarkable animals to have ever walked the surface of our planet are dinosaurs. Which dinosaur had the most teeth, given that the Patagotitan mayorum was the largest and the Compsognathus was the fastest?
Many of our early dreams featured the vicious teeth of two terrifying animals, the velociraptor and the tyrannosaur. The jaw of the Nigersaurus taqueti, on the other hand, is even more remarkable.
This herbivorous, quadrupedal sauropod dinosaur lived in what is now Niger during the Lower Cretaceous, the earliest phase of the Cretaceous, which lasted from -145 million years to 100.5 million years ago. This remarkable dinosaur possessed a feature that was, to put it mildly, surprising: it had 500 teeth!
500-Toothed Dinosaur with a Transparent skull
One of the unique features of Nigersaurus is its odd dentition. About 15 metres long and 4 tonnes in weight, this dinosaur. But the Nigersaurus was destined to eat grass on the ground, unlike other species of herbivorous dinosaurs that could snag vegetation from the tops of trees.
In fact, the analysis of his spine revealed that he was unable to lift his head above his back. Additionally, his vertebrae were incredibly thin, even having several hollow areas akin to those found in birds. His skull’s bones had a refinement to them that may be seen in their modest density. Undoubtedly, a light beam may simply pass through. Extreme fragility, which explains why unbroken fossils were hard to come by.
Size of the Dinosaur with 500 Teeth
The medium-sized quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaur Nigersaurus was around the size of an adult African elephant today. His femur was one metre long, and his body was nine metres long. Its estimated adult weight, according to palaeontologists, was 4 tonnes.
It had a small head, a neck that was relatively short, wide hind legs, and a long tail. Its bones were tiny, and its head was built for simple feeding.
The mouth of Nigersaurus was large and “suction slit” shaped. It had more than 500 teeth, which were changed every 14 days or so. This dinosaur had brown skin, with a lighter-colored belly.
The Nigersaurus’ inner ear anatomy suggests that it carried its head near to the ground most of the time. As the continents continued to separate and the climate grew wetter compared to the drier circumstances of the Late Jurassic, these traits might be an adaptation to the soft vegetation that thrived during the early Cretaceous. Its main food sources were ferns and horsetails.
Prior to today, only hadrosaurs and ceratopsians were known to have such tooth batteries. Nigersaurus’ discovery proved that they existed in at least one branch of sauropods, the rebbachisaurids.
The Nigersaurus’s Residence was where?
“Niger lizard” is what Nigersaurus implies. It coexisted with the ornithopod Ouranosaurus, the spinosaurid Suchomimus, and the enormous crocodile Sarcosuchus in the plains of Niger during the early Cretaceous period. Algeria and Tunisia have also seen the discovery of bones.
Although it had not been described, this dinosaur was found in 1976 in the Elrhaz formation of Niger. The information on Nigersaurus was not published until 1999 and the discovery of new remains. Philippe Taquet, a well-known French palaeontologist, made the initial discovery. The solitary member of the genus, Nigersaurus taqueti, bears the scientist’s name. Later on, this amateur palaeontologist was appointed director of the National Museum of Natural History.
The 500-Toothed Dinosaur’s Actions
The social sauropod Nigersaurus could coexist with a wide range of other dinosaurs. These include huge theropods (carnivorous dinosaurs), crocodylomorphs, and other large herbivorous dinosaurs. It is not ruled out that it had predators given its size.
He goes by the moniker “the dinosaur-cow.”
Paul Sereno, a palaeontologist who led the team that discovered 80% of the Nigersaurus taqueti skeleton, revealed in the NPR broadcast in 2007 that this dinosaur was the oddest he has ever seen.
Diet of a dinosaur cow or nigeriasaurus
As a herbivore, the Nigersaurus consumed a variety of vegetation. With hundreds of tiny, sharp teeth situated at the front of its jaws, this dinosaur crunched its meal.
The 500-toothed dinosaur would have been able to effortlessly smash low-growing plants while feeding on them, earning it the moniker “Mesozoic lawnmower.”
Classification of the 500-Toothed Dinosaur
The Rebbachisauridae family, an evolutionary descendant of Diplodocimorpha, includes Nigersaurus.
Despite being a common genus, knowledge of this dinosaur was little developed after its ;discovery in 1976. Following Paul Sereno’s latest remains discoveries in 1997 and 2000, they made substantial progress. This famous American palaeontologist made the “SuperCroc” discovery, which is a nearly complete Sarcosuchus fossil.
The condition of its bones is to blame for the delay in understanding the genus Nigersaurus. The dinosaur’s structure is quite brittle and has numerous voids in it. It is even possible to see light through a fossilised skull using a strong light beam. Paleontologists’ work has been made more difficult by this fragility because neither articulated skeletons nor entire skulls have been discovered. These specimens are the most complete ones that have ever been found in the rebbachisaurid family.
In Africa, palaeontologists have found the first duck-billed dinosaur.
An multinational study team discovered a new species of duck-billed dinosaur in the phosphate deposits of Morocco in 2020, for the first time in Africa. This dinosaur is thought to have lived 66 million years ago near the end of the Cretaceous period.
Researchers from the University of Bath, the University of the Basque Country, and G. Washington University are travelling to the Paleontology Research Center – Paris (MNHN – CNRS – Sorbonne University). They describe their conclusions in a report that was released in the journal Cretaceous Research at the beginning of November.
A dinosaur that was as tall as a London bus and as long as a basketball court. The Australian giant that scientists have drawn attention to is a real one. A team recently revealed the discovery of a new species of sauropod in a paper that was published in the journal PeerJ. And what kind.
The animal could grow to a height of 5 to 6.5 metres and a length of 25 to 30 metres, based on the analysis of its remains. Its enormous size places it among the biggest dinosaurs ever discovered and gives it the distinction of being the biggest dinosaur discovered in Australia.
