A dinosaur with more than 500 teeth was probably the Nigersaurus. Similar to modern Sauropods, this sauropod had a replacement and permanent teeth. It was nine meters long, had a one-meter femur, and weighed four tons, making it similar in size and weight to an elephant. It had a short neck with only thirteen cervical vertebrae, but it may have been quite large and powerful.

Nigersaurus

Nigersaurus had a herbivorous diet

The earliest animals to live on earth were all herbivores. They consumed plants for nourishment. Large herbivores, such as buffalo, elk, and cows, ate grass, tree bark, aquatic vegetation, and shrubby growth. Smaller herbivores ate seeds, nuts, and other plant matter. The decline in the availability of plants affected both large and small herbivores.

It was not until the early 2000s that paleontologists had a complete picture of the appearance of the Nigersaurus. That’s because the dinosaur’s skeleton was hollow in many places, making it susceptible to distortion and breaking. Before this time, Nigersaurus specimens were plentiful, but of poor quality. Until recently, scientists had assumed the dinosaur was just an ordinary sauropod.

Nigersaurus body structure

The Nigersaurus is a long-necked dinosaur with a broad, straight-edged muzzle topped with 500 replaceable teeth. A CT scan of its fossil skull was one of the first digital reconstructions of a dinosaur’s jawbone. It’s named after the Niger River in Nigeria, where it lived during the Aptian or Albian period. This plant-eating sauropod had a large, mouth-sized skull, and a large, broad, and wide jaw.

Nigersaurus is a quadruped dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period, which lived approximately 50 million years ago. It had a small head, thick legs, and a large, conspicuous tail. Its neck is about fifteen meters long, making it comparable in length to a giraffe. Its long neck may have been used to socialize and engage in mating rituals.

Diplodocus

Diplodocus is the fastest tooth-replacement dinosaur

The Diplodocus is one of the fastest tooth-replacement dinosaurs ever known. Diplodocus was able to maintain two sets of teeth in its jaws, one of which was replaced once a year. The Diplodocus was able to keep as many as five replacement teeth in its tooth sockets, while its other teeth were in a backup position. Diplodocus also kept as many as three spare baby teeth in its tooth sockets.

Diplodocus was small compared to other sauropods

Although it was small compared to other sauropods animals, Diplodocus had a very distinctive facial structure. Its nasal openings were located high on its forehead and it might have even had a trunk. In 2006, scientists compared Diplodocus skulls to elephant skulls and discovered that the sauropod had five toes instead of four, and its “thumb” toes were large. The claw on these “thumb” toes was unusually large, and the claw was not known for what purpose. However, a 1992 paper published in Geology suggests that diplodocids had a small spine on their feet.

It lived 110 million years ago in Niger

A two-foot crocodile and a 40-foot dinosaur-eating monster shared the same habitat in the Tenere Desert in central Africa 110 million years ago. A famous dinosaur researcher, Paul Sereno, found evidence of both creatures in Niger. Sereno is a professor of organismal biology at the University of Chicago. His team has recently published the findings of their research, which has been dubbed the ‘duck-croc.’