Ouranosaurus Ouranosaurus

Ouranosaurus is a genus of herbivorous basal hadrosauriform dinosaur that lived during the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous of modern-day Niger and Cameroon. Ouranosaurus measured about 7 – 8.3 m long and weighed 2.2 MT. Two rather complete fossils were found in the Elrhaz Formation, Gadoufaoua deposits, Agadez, Niger, in 1965 and 1970, with a third indeterminate specimen known from the Koum Formation of Cameroon. The animal was named in 1976 by French paleontologist Philippe Taquet, the type species being Ouranosaurus nigeriensis. The generic name is a combination of ourane, a word with multiple meanings, “sky” in Ancient Greek, Latinized spelling Uranus), one of Greek primordial gods (protogenoi) and a Greek god of the sky.}} and sauros, the Greek word for lizard.