Illustration © T. Marshall
Nigersaurus lived
110 million years ago alongside the world’s
largest crocodile SuperCroc, the T-rex sized fish-eating Suchomimus and
a host of other characters. Enter this extreme world to learn
more!
Nigersaurus lived 110 million years ago in what is now Niger, West Africa. Although the fossils were found in the Sahara Desert, when Nigersaurus lived the area was a floodplain with wide rivers, conifer forests and lush vegetation. Nigersaurus lived with a menagerie of unusual dinosaurs, crocodilians and flying reptiles, as well as fish, turtles, and snakes.
Photo © M. Hettwer
Suchomimus
Large predatory dinosaurs living at that time include: Suchomimus, a fish-eating spinosaur, the short-snouted Kryptops, and Eocarcharia. Other plant eaters include: Ouranosaurus, a duck-billed leaf-eater; Lurdosaurus, a common spike-thumbed iguanodont, and a titanosaurian sauropod larger than Nigersaurus.
Illustration © R. Martin
Sarcosuchus and Suchomimus, pictured here, lived in the same world as Nigersaurus.
The edge of the water was no refuge with crocodilians like the 40-foot-long SuperCroc (Sarcosuchus) waiting to ambush prey. The much smaller crocs, Anatosuchus (‘duck croc’) and Araripesuchus were hunting as well.
Even the skies were occupied – long-winged flying pterosaurs swooped overhead, sometimes diving down to snatch a tasty fish out of the river.
Photo E. Vecchione
Fossilized wood. |
Photo © M. Hettwer
Anatosuchus skull |
Photo © M. Hettwer
The team searches Gadoufaoua, a vast rocky plain for new discoveries. |
ANIMALS THAT
LIVED WITH NIGERSAURUS
African pterosaur
Type: pterosaur
Age: 110 million years old
Adult wingspan: 16 feet (4.9 meters)
Discovery site: Niger, West Africa |
Illustration © T.
Marshall
Skeletal silhouette of the unnamed African pterosaur.
|
In
2000, several slender teeth and a nearly
complete wing were discovered of Africa's largest flying reptile. It closely resembles another species of
flying reptile discovered in Brazil. Pterosaurs are close
cousins of dinosaurs but had a very different look and
lifestyle. Based on numerous trackways (series of fossilized
footprints), paleontologists believe pterosaurs were relatively
clumsy on land, walking slowly on all fours. In the air,
however, pterosaurs were agile hunters and grew to sizes
unrivaled by living birds or bats.
Suchomimus tenerensis
Type: theropod, meat eater
Age: 110 million years old
Height at hip: 12 feet (3.7 meters)
Length: 36 feet (11 meters)
Discovery site: Niger, West Africa |
Illustration © C.
Abraczinskas and P. Sereno Skeletal silhouette of Suchomimus tenerensis.
|
Suchomimus was
discovered in 1997 in Niger,
West Africa. It was named for its narrow and bizarre-looking
four-foot (1.2 meter) skull. Its snout ends in a cage of long,
curved teeth that suggest Suchomimus, like crocodiles,
ate fish. Suchomimus had powerful forelimbs and
thumb claws about one-foot in length, and was the largest
and most common predator of its day in Africa. Suchomimus’ closest
relative is Baryonx, a spinosaur discovered in
England.
Sarcosuchus imperator
Nickname: "SuperCroc"
Type: crocodilian
Age: 110 million years old
Length: 40 feet (12 meters)
Discovery Site: Niger, West Africa |
Illustration © P.
Sereno
Skeletal silhouette of Sarcosuchus
imperator.
|
Sarcosuchus,
the largest crocodilian ever to have walked the earth,
reached an estimated 40 feet (12 meters) in length. A partial
skeleton of Sarcosuchus was found in the Sahara
by an expedition team led by Dr. Paul Sereno in 2000.
Originally, a French paleontologist named Alfred Felix
de Lapparent found fossilized teeth and armor plates of
a giant crocodile while on several prospecting missions
to the Sahara in the 1940s and 1950s. Continued work by French paleontologists in the 1960s resulted in the discovery of a partial skull on which the species was named. The 2000 Expedition to Niger discovered a complete skull and several partial skeletons.
Based on a comparison to living crocs, Sarcosuchus would
have weighed about 17,500 pounds (8 metric tons). That
is about 10 times as heavy as the heaviest living croc.
Measurements of the skulls and bones, and comparison to
recent crocs, led paleontologists to conclude that Sarcosuchus grew
a length of 40 feet (12 meters)! |
