Nigersaurus Coloring Pages

A Cretaceous vacuum cleaner!? Nigersaurus

Nigersaurus is part of the long-necked dinosaur family, but it has very strange features that no other dinosaur has. It is just like "Vacuum cleaner" Ya "Lawnmower" It is a super unique dinosaur that looked like this.

Name Origin and English Spelling

In English Nigersaurus It is written as "____".

• What does the name mean? "Lizard of Niger" is.

• In Africa Republic of Niger Its name was given because its first fossil was found in a country called Niger.

When and where did it live? (Period and Habitat)

Nigersaurus lived about 115 million to 105 million years ago of Cretaceous Period This was a period called the

• It lived in the western part of the African continent. Niger This is where...

• It is thought that back then, it was a lush wetland with a big river flowing through it.

Is it small for a dinosaur? (Size)

Among the sauropods, which are a group of dinosaurs with long necks, Nigersaurus is a bit On the smaller side was.

• Its length is About 9 meters about as long as a large bus.

• Weight is About 4 tons about, and today's African elephant It weighs about as much as 1 head of a dinosaur.

Amazing mouth and teeth!

Nigersaurus's coolest feature is its Mouth is.

• Its mouth spreads out sideways Flat wide, looking just like the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner.

• Inside its mouth, there are small, needle-like teeth Over 500 were also lined up.

• These teeth get pushed out by the bottom teeth one after another "Dental battery" The teeth worked like that, and a new tooth would grow in about once every 14 days. This is an amazingly fast pace, even among dinosaurs!

A style of walking with its head down

Other sauropods ate leaves from tall trees, but Nigersaurus was different.

• When we look at the structure of its neck bones, we can tell that usually It kept its head facing down is known.

• It is thought that they used their wide mouths to efficiently munch on low plants growing close to the ground. Just like "The Lawn Mower of the Cretaceous" Isn't it?

A light skull full of holes

The Nigersaurus had a very unusual skull structure.

• Its bones are very thin, and it has a lot of Hole had holes in them, so they were super light!

• Its bones were so delicate that finding its fossils was very hard to do.

Pick colors that blend into nature!

Nigersaurus lived in wetlands. Try using "hiding colors" so it can blend into the trees and grass easily!

• Use dark green or brown for its back. Use lighter beige or cream color for its belly. This makes it look like a real dinosaur!

• An elephant-like gray looks great too. Making it look a little bumpy like a rough rock will look super cool!

Make the back spikes stand out!

Nigersaurus has a row of small, pointy spikes along its back.

• Try coloring these spikes a bit darker than the body, or use a bright color like orange. It will make the shape pop and look really strong!

• Color each bump carefully to show how strong Nigersaurus is!

Take care of its vacuum-like mouth!

Its wide mouth is its coolest feature! Let's color it neatly.

• Try making the tip near its beak a bit yellow or blackish. Changing the color from the body really shows off its special mouth!

• Imagine it eating grass on the ground. Adding a little green around its mouth is a fun trick too!

Show how its tail moves!

Nigersaurus has a tail that curls up at the end.

• Make the color get lighter toward the tip of its tail. Or you can add cool patterns like stripes! This makes the tail look like it is swishing around.

Draw a lush nature background!

There are plants near the feet of Nigersaurus.

• Use lots of bright green and dark green to color tasty-looking grass for it.

• You can also draw a big river or fern plants in the background. It will look like you traveled back in time 100 million years!

A mouth shaped like a vacuum cleaner

The most unique feature of Nigersaurus is its mouth, which is flat and straight just like a "vacuum cleaner nozzle." It pressed this strange mouth right against the ground to efficiently clip and eat plants like ferns growing close to the dirt.

It had over 500 teeth!

Inside its wide mouth, tiny teeth were packed tightly together. People say it had "over 500 teeth" in total! It was an amazing dinosaur with lots of "spare teeth" ready underneath, so new teeth would grow right in even when its teeth wore down from eating tough plants.

It is called the "Lawnmower of the Mesozoic"

Even though it belongs to the long-necked dinosaur group (sauropods), people think Nigersaurus did not eat leaves from tall trees. Instead, it always looked down and ate only grass on the ground. Because it kept munching away at the grass, it got the funny nickname "Lawnmower of the Mesozoic."

Its skull is very light

When scientists looked at the skull of Nigersaurus, they found it had many gaps and was so "thin and light" that light could shine through it. Its body might have been cleverly built this way so its neck would not get tired, even while holding its heavy head down all the time to eat grass on the ground.