Ouranosaurus was a plant-eating dinosaur that lived in the early
Cretaceous period,
about 115 to 100 million years ago. Its
fossils have been found in
Niger in Africa, and its name, which means
"brave monitor lizard" was chosen by the French paleontologist,
Philippe-Taquet in
1976.
Ouranosaurus was 23 feet (7 meters) long,
and probably weighed around 4 tons.
Ouranosaurus has long thick spines on its back and tail,
and for many years scientists believed that these supported
a large fin (sometimes also called "sail") that was covered with
skin, similar to the fin found on
Spinosaurus.
It was thought that this fin
was probably used for temperature
regulation: the animal could face it towards or away from the sun, depending
on whether it needed to heat up or cool down.
Close examination of Ouranosaurus however suggests that whatever was on
its back may have been quite different from the fin on
Spinosaurus.
In fact, many scientists now believe that the spines on Ouranosaurus back
are more likely to have supported a hump (similar to a modern bison's
hump) than a sail. If this was the case, the hump may perhaps have been
used to store food and water (like a camel's hump).
Ouranosaurus was a member of the Ornithischia ("bird-hipped") order of dinosaurs. What this means, is that although Ouranosaurus was not closely related to birds, it did have similarly shaped pelvic bones.
Ouranosaurus lived between about 115 million years ago and 100 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period.
Ouranosaurus lived in Africa.
Ouranosaurus was a herbivore (plant-eater).
Ouranosaurus was about 23 feet (7 meters) long.
Ouranosaurus weighed about 4 tons.
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