Sauropod Nigersaurus – brain, ear & head posture

3D Model

Animation of the skull, brain endocast, and inner ear of the rebbachisaurid diplodocoid sauropod dinosaur Nigersaurus taqueti (MNN GAD512), showing the inferred “alert posture” of an almost vertical skull based on the orientation of the lateral semicircular canal. This 3D model was originally generated in connection with the 2007 publication of a PLOS ONE article by Sereno et al. (https://bit.ly/3aibEP5). Ryan Ridgely rebuilt the model based on Maya visualization in 2020 for the “Under the Skin” exhibit at the Bruce Museum: https://www.undertheskinexhibition.com/.