Bizarre Dinosaur Was Cow Of The Mesozoic

Bizarre Dinosaur Was Cow Of The Mesozoic

Bizarre dinosaur was "cow of the Mesozoic"
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An artist's rendition of Nigersaurus taqueti, a a hundred and ten million-12 months previous sauropod from the Sahara is proven in this undated handout picture from Nationwide Geographic. A reconstruction of the dinosaur might be on display at the Nationwide Geographic Museum at Explorer's Corridor in Washington until March 18, 2008. REUTERS/Mike Hettwer-Nationwide Geographic/Handout
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The mouth space of the Nigersaurus is proven on this undated handout picture provided by the Nationwide Geographic on November 15, 2007. The Nigersaurus roamed the southern Sahara some a hundred and ten million years in the past. REUTERS/Mike Hettwer-Nationwide Geographic/Handout
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WASHINGTON A wierd-looking dinosaur with rows of tiny tooth crammed into the very entrance of its jaws and fragile air-crammed bones could have been the "cow of the Mesozoic," and much more common than higher-known dinosaurs, scientists stated on Thursday.
Its shovel-formed jaws and tightly packed teeth - as much as 10 rows of teeth - allowed Nigersaurus taqueti to hoover by means of ferns and different ground cover, a group led by Paul Sereno on the University of Chicago reported.
The researchers used a mixture of laptop modeling, X-rays and good old school digging to build a model of an elephant-sized animal that lived one hundred ten million years ago in what's now the Sahara desert in Niger.
They usually argue that their work calls into question among the commonplace fashions of different associated dinosaurs similar to Diplodocus that present the creatures standing and searching in the treetops.
Such creatures, generally known as diplodocids, extra probably grazed, Sereno writes in his report, revealed within the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE here
Sufficient bone was found to indicate the orientation of the semicircular canals - the organ of equilibrium. What they discovered astonished the researchers.
"In on a regular basis life this animal had its nostril pointed towards the bottom," Sereno instructed a news conference at the Nationwide Geographic Society, which helped pay for his 10-yr research of the 30-foot-lengthy (10 meter) Nigersaurus.
What this says, argues Sereno, is that specialists have long mistakenly believed that many herbivore dinosaurs behaved like living lengthy-necked animals similar to giraffes.
"I think we were blindsided and missed the cows of the Mesozoic," Sereno mentioned.
FERN MOWER
"We all know from its brain that its head was down and we all know from the neck that it operated like a increase," he added. "This was some kind of a fern mower the likes of which we had by no means seen."
Fossilized pollen and other evidence present Africa was lined with ferns and other lush, low-rising vegetation. "Would there be some parallel of a cow within the Mesozoic or would it not all go uneaten?" he requested.
"We think the neck was simply for reach. It could merely sit there and mow a big space."
The teeth had been packed so tightly into rows that the highest and backside jaws acted like two single blades of a pair of shears.
The researchers sawed a couple of enamel open. "You can truly see the daily increments of dentin," Sereno mentioned. Nigersaurus was shedding its enamel each 30 to 35 days, faster than any dinosaur recognized.
But one other tooth was at all times waiting behind the misplaced tooth.
Sereno believes Nigersaurus and comparable grazers have been as soon as the most common dinosaurs, however their fossils have been too fragile to have survived to be found.
How does he know? Enamel. Comparable teeth have been present in Europe, South America and in several parts of Africa.

The vertebrae are hole and the skull is so delicate that solely bits and items remain from a lot of the animals. "It would not take much to climate these away," the University of Chicago's Bob Masek, who prepared the bones, mentioned in an interview.
"The skull is made gentle so the neck does not have to support loads of weight," Masek mentioned.
(Enhancing by Will Dunham and Sandra Maler)
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