Nigersaurus taqueti

Overview

Nigersaurus, often called the "Mesozoic cow," was one of the strangest sauropods ever discovered! Living approximately 110-105 million years ago during the middle Cretaceous period in what is now Niger, Africa, this unusual dinosaur had a mouth shaped like a vacuum cleaner and more teeth than almost any other dinosaur!

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Taxonomy & Classification

• Clade: Sauropoda
• Family: Rebbachisauridae
• Diet: Herbivorous
• Locomotion: Quadrupedal

Nigersaurus was a smaller relative of giant sauropods like Brachiosaurus.

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Physical Characteristics

Size & Build

• Length: About 9 meters (30 feet)
• Weight: 2,000-4,000 kg (2-4 tons)
• Height: About 2 meters at the hip

Much smaller than famous sauropods—more like a large elephant than a giant!

The Vacuum Cleaner Mouth

Nigersaurus's most bizarre feature:

• Mouth was wider than the rest of its skull!
• Shaped like a straight line across the front
• Looked like a vacuum cleaner nozzle
• Perfect for mowing down ground-level plants

Incredible Teeth

• Had 500+ teeth at any given time!
• Teeth arranged in columns of 9+ teeth each
• When one tooth wore out, another replaced it from behind
• Replaced teeth approximately every 14 days!
• Fastest tooth replacement of any dinosaur

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The Unique Skull

Lightweight Design

• Skull was incredibly thin and delicate
• Bones were nearly paper-thin in places
• More holes (fenestrae) than bone!
• So fragile that fossils are rarely preserved
• Scientists describe it as "more skull holes than skull"

Downward-Facing Head

• Neck held horizontally
• Head pointed straight down at the ground
• Could not lift its head very high
• Perfectly adapted for ground-level grazing

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Feeding Behavior

Prehistoric Lawn Mower

Nigersaurus was a specialized feeder:

• Grazed on ferns, horsetails, and low plants
• Swung its head side to side to crop vegetation
• Like a biological lawn mower!
• Could clear vegetation efficiently and quickly

Tooth Batteries

• Teeth only on the front edge of the mouth
• Self-sharpening as they wore down
• Arranged in dental batteries
• Similar system to hadrosaurs (duck-billed dinosaurs)

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Discovery Story

Found in the Sahara

• First bones found in 1976
• Properly described in 1999 by Paul Sereno
• Found in Niger, Africa (hence the name)
• The Sahara was a lush floodplain back then!
• Fossils are extremely fragile and rare

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Brain & Senses

Small Brain, Big Success

• Brain was about the size of a tennis ball
• But the brain's inner ear shows:
  • Head was typically held at 67 degrees downward
  • Confirms it was a ground-level feeder
• CT scans revealed its lifestyle through anatomy!

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Environment

Ancient Niger

Nigersaurus lived in:

• Lush floodplains and river deltas
• Tropical, humid climate
• Alongside crocodiles and large fish
• Other dinosaurs like Ouranosaurus and Suchomimus
• Now the Sahara Desert—completely different today!

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Cool Facts

• Nigersaurus had more teeth than any other sauropod!
• New teeth grew every two weeks
• Its skull was so thin you could see light through it
• Nicknamed the "Mesozoic cow" for its grazing habits
• Could not raise its head to look at the sky
• Found in what is now one of the hottest deserts on Earth
• The internet once called it the dinosaur with the "weirdest face"
• Its nostrils were on the top of its snout, not the front

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Nigersaurus shows us that dinosaurs came in all shapes and styles—this bizarre "vacuum cleaner" dinosaur was perfectly designed for its specialized lifestyle!