Bizarre Dinosaurs - Nigersaurus Gallery - National Geographic Magazine

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Nigersaurus Gallery

/galleries/bcove/assets/37066aec-f3e7-437f-8ed3-7a164174419d.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/fb955d78-26e7-43aa-b269-55669012901e.jpg Nigersaurus taqueti]]> Nigersaurus taqueti, a 110 million-year-old sauropod from the Sahara, recreated in the flesh by artist Tyler Keillor in collaboration with Paul Sereno at the University of Chicago. The flesh model stars in an exhibit at the National Geographic Museum at Explorers Hall through March 18, 2008.]]> http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071115-nigersaurus.html /galleries/bcove/assets/3cdd4b1a-a699-4619-a669-a3bea202e812.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/15cc122e-da35-426e-99dc-6eef392f3319.jpg Nigersaurus taqueti, named by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Paul Sereno and his team. Nigersaurus was a plant eater with bizarre anatomy—a mouth that worked like a vacuum cleaner, hundreds of tiny teeth, and nearly translucent skull bones. The anatomy of this “Mesozoic cow” is detailed in a paper published in PLoS ONE, the online journal from the Public Library of Science. ]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/a9e9f054-c658-4eac-a379-513ada627e30.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/e1c75648-f307-462f-b6eb-b994964d7aa6.jpg Nigersaurus in the Sahara. Sereno’s research was partly funded by the National Geographic Society.]]> /ngm/missions/map.html /galleries/bcove/assets/b1a9f7f7-93db-4971-8325-57027d516f67.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/9cfbab54-2c7d-41d9-b923-098de0566df4.jpg Nigersaurus had a mouthful of slender teeth—more than 500 of them packed inside its jaws, each tooth about the size of a toddler’s incisor. A CT scan exposed up to nine “replacements” stacked up behind each working tooth. Nigersaurus is described in a cover article on “Extreme Dinosaurs” in the December 2007 issue of National Geographic magazine.]]> /ngm/2007-12/bizarre-dinosaurs/nigersaurus.html /galleries/bcove/assets/bfd16d82-1f74-4355-9d88-7976e0c2abfa.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/60db5f19-4832-4233-af6c-4ab887fb7bba.jpg Nigersaurus, a sauropod that walked the region 110 million years before. Nigersaurus lived in what is now the southern Sahara, in a habitat that also fostered the enormous crocodilian known as SuperCroc.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/a2b90188-a3f1-40b7-9cbe-fe1ab28c8500.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/57c74877-67d9-4c31-8157-ce822241a4aa.jpg Nigersaurus taqueti. In three expeditions to Niger, Sereno and his teams collected about three-fourths of the bones of a skull of the animal, along with much of its skeleton.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/cd181538-49dc-40a5-aa03-4d67de9192f8.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/5da45333-af31-4e13-833f-1ffb1f537868.jpg Nigersaurus taqueti, as it looked in the flesh. Paleontologist Paul Sereno’s research suggests the animal mowed down ferns and other plants with its lightweight skull and skeleton.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/a569b1f8-adad-495b-8b19-95ef2c7384f1.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/0fe11f4f-d183-4a4f-a79c-8709b40b2639.jpg Nigersaurus taqueti, in the flesh and without. A flesh model of the animal’s skull and neck as well as a life-sized, 30-foot-long (9 meters) reconstruction of the dinosaur will be on display at the National Geographic Museum at Explorers Hall through March 18, 2008.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/323aae14-5e40-41da-b93e-7302a761a3b1.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/ac961ca4-3fea-4584-800d-188ca4826ac9.jpg Nigersaurus taqueti grew to a length of some 30 feet (9 meters), with a hip height of 8 feet (2.4 meters) and a weight comparable to an elephant. Paleontologist Paul Sereno and his teams collected about 80 percent of a skeleton of Nigersaurus. ]]>