Nigersaurus - The Dinosaur That Thought It Was a Lawn Mower

Nigersaurus - A Bizarre African Sauropod

As Dinosaurs dominated life on Earth during the latter part of the Mesozoic they diversified into many varied forms, each genus adapting to a specific way of life and filling an ecological niche.

Further research has just been published (November 2007) on a particularly bizarre looking sauropod from Africa - Nigersaurus.

Nigersaurus was first described in 1976 but little was known about this Diplodocoid sauropod as although many isolated bones and fragments of fossils had been recovered very few were found in any form of association or articulation, so piecing together a complete picture of this animal was proving difficult.

New Giant Meat-Eating Dinosaur From Africa

New Species of Carcharodontosaurus Discovered in Niger

Dinosaur fans, especially collectors of dinosaur models can look forward to a number of new meat-eating dinosaurs being made after it was confirmed that a new type of huge predatory dinosaur has been found in Africa. Fossils found many years ago by a student have formally been described and a new meat-eating dinosaur discovery announced.

For graduate Steve Brusatte, a palaeobiologist at the University of Bristol, England, the long wait for the naming and describing of his 1997 fossil find is finally over. Elements of the skull, including the premaxilla (part of the upper jaw) and cervical vertebrae (back bones) discovered in an expedition to Niger (Africa) have been described in the scientific publication "The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology" out this week.

Long-Necked Dinosaur Fossils Found in Antarctica

Lower Jurassic Fossils Found on Antarctic Mountainside

Scientists from the Field Museum in Chicago in co-operation with palaeontologists from Argentina (Museo Paleontologico - Chubut); have named and described a new genus and species of dinosaur that once roamed the Antarctic portion of Gondwanaland 190 million years ago.

A New Sauropodomorph

The animal was a Sauropodomorph, an early long-necked dinosaur, although only partial remains were excavated (a femur and an incomplete ankle plus some foot bones); scientists estimate that this animal was 8 metres long and weighed 4 tonnes. It has been named Glacialisaurus hammeri (Hammer's glacial lizard), in honour of Dr. William Hammer who led the expedition.

Why Did Baby Diplodocus Dinosaurs Have a Short Neck?

The Joys of Working with Baby Dinosaurs

Ask any young dinosaur fan to draw a Diplodocus, an Apatosaurus and even a Brachiosaurus and they will most likely produce a picture of a big animal with a large body, a long tail and of course a very long neck, just the way these animals are depicted in books, CDs and television programmes. These dinosaurs, known as Sauropods, are also commonly called long-necked dinosaurs as one of their distinguishing features is of course their elongated, muscular necks.

Baby Dinosaurs Looked Very Different

However, when it comes to working on a museum exhibits that depict a baby Diplodocus, our thoughts about the typical long-necked dinosaur shape have to be discarded.