Description
- Sauropod Tooth
- Species: Rebbachisaurus garasbae
- Age: Cretaceous, 100 Million Years Old
- Source: South of Taouz, Morocco
- Size: 24mm
- Image shows exact item received.
Sauropods were huge herbivorous dinosaurs that lived between 200 and 66 million years ago; appearing first in the early Jurassic and becoming extinct in the Cretaceous period. Sauropods were gigantic animals that include some of the largest land vertebrates to have ever lived. Species like Argentinosaurus and Mamenchisaurus grew over 30m long and are estimated to have weighed upwards of 80 tons, ten times greater than modern days largest land animal; the elephant.
Their large size extends to all aspects of their body making fossil bones and even bone fragments particularly large and heavy; therefore the most commonly collected fossils from these animals is their teeth. This tooth is from Rebbachisaurus garasbae, and was found South of the town of Taouz in Morocco in an area of sedimentary deposits known as the Kem Kem Beds. Many fossils have been found in this area, predominantly of fish and Theropod dinosaurs; Sauropod fossils are actually rarely found in this area.
Rebbachisaurus garasbae, was a medium sized sauropod that is estimated to measure around 14m in total length, and weigh around 10 metric tons. Like most Sauropods it possessed a small head, long neck and a whiplike tail. What distinguishes Rebbachiasaurus from other sauropods is its tall, ridged back and accompanying sail, that can be clearly seen from the few examples of fossil vertebrae discovered. Rebbachisaurids have distinctive teeth which makes them easy to identify; their teeth have low angle, internal wear facets and asymmetrical enamel.
