Did you stumble on this blog because you were on the “do not Google” trend, or are you genuinely interested in knowing more about what Dinosaur has 500 teeth?
We cover how the racist trend started and everything you should know about the Dinosaur with 500 teeth.
“Do Not Google What Dinosaur has 500 Teeth” Trend.
It was in 2019, September when a teenager started the trend telling people:
“Do Not Google What Dinosaur has 500 teeth!”
The account has gotten deleted since, but the trend spread like fire. It was a racist trick. When you do Google, the Dinosaur that has 500 teeth is Nigersaurus.
Now, you probably know why I am calling it racist. The user knew the best way to get people interested was by adding the “Do not Google” part because as people get told to do that, they have to do it to find out what it is about. Nonetheless, the Dinosaur is real, and below we have all the details, from how it got this name to everything else you could know about it.
Nigersaurus Pronunciation
Before we go into the details, you should know how to pronounce Nigersaurus.
You pronounce it as: ‘nee-their-sore-rus.’
The name Nigersaurus translates to “Niger Lizard” or Niger Reptile.” The unusual Dinosaur is famous because it has more than 500 teeth and a purely herbivorous diet.
Nigersaurus History
Nigersaurus, the unusual Dinosaur, lived around 120-99 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. It was a type of sauropod, meaning a large herbivore that would walk on its four legs. Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus are two other famous sauropods.
This sauropod originates from Central Northern Africa, as many of its postcranial bones were found in Algeria, Niger, and Tunisia. Moreover, its remains got mostly discovered from Gadoufaoua, the central Nigar, within the Elrhaz Formation.
In 1976, was when the Nigersaurus’s fossils first got found. But, it got names in late 1999 after comprehensive, and a lot more findings of the species remain.
How Nigersaurus Got its Name?
Now, you probably are wondering how did the Dinosaur get its name?
The real name of this single species is Nigersaurus Taqueti. ‘Niger’ is where it got found, and ‘Taqueti’ is the name of Philippe Taquet, the French Paleontologist who was the first to discover this sauropod’s remains. That is how it got its name.
Paul Sereno, a paleontologist, gave Nigersaurus the nickname “Mesozoic cow.” The Paleontologist said that this was the most unusual sauropod he had ever seen, and he said, “It is the weirdest dinosaur I have ever seen.”
Nigersaurus Teeth & Appearance
The key and unique characteristic of the Nigersaurus was that it has over 500 teeth. It got said that this unorthodox herbivore grated for food in the place that is now the Sahara desert.
It collected food using its large and wide mouth, with a wider snout, wider than its head back. Paul Sereno compares the Nigersaurus’s face to a vacuum cleaner. The comparison is correct as its reconstructed skeleton shows that its moth looked like the end of the household appliance.
This species has a wide muzzle, proving to be a specialized feed tool with four large fenestrae on the side, skill openings, and the thing’s bones. The wide muzzle had more than 500 teeth, and said it would be replaced every 14 days.
The overall structure of the jaw, teeth, and mouth of the Nigersaurus was unorthodox. So far, it is the only known tetrapod animal with jaws wider than its actual skull and remains the only one to get its teeth examined laterally across its mouth’s front.
Unique Beast and Teeth Structure
Moreover, this unique beast had a very unusual tooth structure. The teeth were dental batteries, which had not been seen in a sauropod family before. This type of tooth is mostly common in beaked herbivores like triceratops.
The tooth columns are neatly packed next to each other, like peas in a pod. The upper jaw of the Nigersaurus has around 60 small teeth columns, like small needles stacked together. The lower jaw has around 68 columns. The full column set means that it has more than 500 teeth.
Another unique thing about its teeth is its orientation. The processing teeth, normally at the lateral front of its mouth, would have been too ineffective for eating leaves that hand from trees. This showed that the Nigersaurus fed and grazed at a ground level where the “Mesozoic cow” nickname came into place.
Nigersaurus Size
Nigersaurus falls into the sauropod species family, and these dinosaurs got said to be the largest ones ever to walk the earth. However, Nigersaurus was a lot smaller when compared to other sauropods like Brachiosaurus or Diplodocus.
In comparison, the Nigersaurus got estimated to be around 30 feet long, the average length of the Diplodocus was around 85 feet.
The little beats weighed the same as an African elephant, around 4-5 tons, and a Diplodocus weighed around 25 tons. Nigersaurus was a small giant with a short neck if we were to compare it to its family.
5 Nigersaurus Fact
1. Described as a Short Necked ‘Long Neck’ Dinosaur
The sauropod family has a key characteristic, which is their extensive necks. It is said that the sauropod necks reach around 15 meters in length, six times longer than the longest-necked giraffe in the world. However, it is not the same for Nigersaurus and its relatives close to it, as they form a sub-group called ‘Rebbachisauridae.’ The necks of Rebbachisaurids were around 10 meters or lesser than that.
2. ‘Niger Lizard.’
The Nigersaurus translation is ‘Niger lizard’ or Niger reptile.’ Why? It is because its remains got discovered in what we now know as the Republic of Niger.
3. Nigersaurus Babies Discovery
On an expedition, Paul Sereno revealed baby Nigersaurus fossils in Niger. The adult one boasts its length of 30 feet, but the baby Nigersaurus’s upper jaw got recorded to “fit on a silver dollar top.”
4. Only Plants
The Nigersaurus comes from the sauropod family. The key distinction of this sub-group, Sauropoda was their large size, long tail, and neck, had a plant diet, and stood on their four legs.
5. Posture Debate
There has been an ongoing debate among scientists regarding the Nigersaurus’s posture regarding whether it held its head high or slumped it. Some said this complex creature kept its skill at a low 67-degree angle, making it easy to forage food. On the other hand, some scientists disputed that the vertebrae of the beast allowed a wider motion range, meaning it would keep its neck upwards like its fellow sauropods.
What Dinosaur Has the Most Teeth?
Nigersaurus does have an impressive teeth count, but it is not the Dinosaur with the most teeth. Hadrosaurs have 1,400 teeth, making them the dinosaurs with the most teeth.
So, what Dinosaur has 500 teeth? Nigersaurus. It is a weird and wonderful sauropod.