The Skull of
Nigersaurus, an Unusual Sauropod Dinosaur from the
Cretaceous of Africa
Movies
QuickTime format. Download the free player
here.
Download labeled images at the bottom of the page.
Animation of the skull, brain endocast, and inner ear of
the diplodocoid sauropod dinosaur Nigersaurus. The
animation starts with sortuva "normal-looking" head
posture, but transparency reveals a rotated brain and
inner ear; rotating the inner ear so that it's oriented
like modern-day animals do when they're alert shows that
Nigersaurus had an almost vertical alert posture. This
movie was generated to accompany the "Bizarre Dinosaurs"
premiere on 11 Oct 2009 on the National Geographic
Channel. Also available on
YouTube and
Facebook.
This website provides supplementary information as an
adjunct to the published paper. Witmer, with the skilled
assistance of
Ryan Ridgely, is responsible for
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L. M. Witmer and other
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