Ouranosaurus
Ouranosaurus was a sail-backed, plant-eating, iguanodontid dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous period. It was about 24 feet (7 m) long and may have weighed about 4 tons.
| Ouranosaurus Temporal range: Lower Cretaceous
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Conservation status | |
Fossil
| |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Phylum: | |
| Class: | |
| Superorder: | |
| Order: | |
| Suborder: | |
| Infraorder: | |
| Family: | |
| Genus: | Ouranosaurus
|
| Binomial name | |
| Ouranosaurus nigeriensis Taquet, 1976
| |
Two almost complete Ouranosaurus fossils were found in the southern Sahara Desert, in northeast Niger, in 1966. Spinosaurus, a large, sail-backed meat-eater, was one of its contemporaries in the hot, Cretaceous environment of north Africa. Ouranosaurus was named by the French paleontologist Phillippe Taquet in 1976.
Ouranosaurus Media
Location of the Gadoufaoua within Niger
Size of Ouranosaurus compared to a human
Took the photo at Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia
Restoration of the head displaying "nasal protuberances"
Mounted skeleton cast, ROM
Took the photo at Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia
Restoration of Ouranosaurus nigeriensis based on skeletal diagrams and casts, fossils, and related species
Paratype MSNVE 3714 in front view
Suchomimus and Nigersaurus in the environment of the Elrhaz Formation
