Dinosaurs A to Z
Rebbachisauridae

Nigersaurus taqueti niː-zhɛərsorruhs,_-NEYEJERSORRUHS

Generic sauropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Nigersaurus 14 m (46 ft) long
as long as 9 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic sauropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Nigersaurus
Length
14 m (46 ft)
Period
Early Cretaceous (115–105 Mya)
Place
Niger
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Rebbachisauridae
Nigersaurus reconstruction by Nobu Tamura
Reconstruction · Nobu Tamura (CC-BY)

Nigersaurus () is a genus of rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur that lived during the middle Cretaceous period, about 115 to 105 million years ago. It was discovered in the Elrhaz Formation in an area called Gadoufaoua, in Niger. Fossils of this dinosaur were first described in 1976, but it was only named Nigersaurus taqueti in 1999 after further and more complete remains were found and described. The genus name means “Niger reptile”, and the specific name honours the palaeontologist Philippe Taquet, who discovered the first remains.

Small for a sauropod, Nigersaurus was about 9 – 14.1 m long, and had a short neck. It weighed around 1.9 – 4 MT, comparable to a modern elephant. Its skull was very specialised for feeding, with large fenestrae and thin bones. It had a wide muzzle filled with more than 500 teeth, which were replaced at a rapid rate: around every 14 days.

What we know

  • Named by Sereno et al., 1999.
  • Body length estimated at about 14.1 m.
  • Fossils found in Niger.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Nigersaurus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.