Ouranosaure

The ouranosaure ( Ouranosaurus , “courageous lizard”) was a unusual Iguanodon which lived during the Crétacé approximately 110 million years ago in what is now the Africa. The ouranosaure measured approximately 7.2 m and weighed almost 4 T. Two complete fossils were found with the Niger in 1966, and name in 1976 by the Paléontologue French Philippe Taquet.

Like the Spinosaure, a well-known carnivorous dinosaur which lived at the same time, the ouranosaure had a large peak on its back. It was extended between long osseous spines which extended on all its back and its tail. It could have a function of temperature control. When the ouranosaure was hot it could divert solar radiations and optimize its exposure to the wind to evacuate the excess of heat of its body. When it was cold, it exposed its peak to the sun to be heated.

The peak could also be used as identification because the ouranosaure lived can be in herd to protect itself from predatory like the Suchomimus and the Carcharodontosaure. Perhaps brilliantly coloured (simple assumption without any possible checking), its peak could also have been used for to attract the females or to intimidate the rival males.

It had on each hands an inch out of spur much smaller than that of the Iguanodon. It had a head which resembled that of the Hadrosaure, a dinosaur with duck nozzle.

The ouranosaure was a Herbivore which did not have teeth on the front of the jaws, but a great series of teeth on the sides to chew the vegetation with its frayed nozzle.

Classification

Although it shares similarities with the Iguanodon, the such inch spur, the ouranosaure is readier line of the Hadrosaurien S, although it is not a truth Hadrosaure. The name of the specimen is Ouranosaurus nigeriensis .

External bonds and references

Ouranosaurus on Nature.ca
Ouranosaurus (with image)
Ouranosaurus: general information
Iguanodontia

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