Ouranosaurus
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Ouranosaurus (“brave reptile”) was a unusual Iguanodontid that lived during the Cretaceous about 110 million years ago in what is now Africa. Ouranosaurus measured about 24 feet long and weighed about 4 tons.
Like Spinosaurus, a well-known meat-eating dinosaur that lived at the same time as Ouranosaurus, it had a large skinned sail on its back that was supported by thick large spines that covered its entire back and tail. The sail may have been used to manage its body temperature. When Ouranosaurus was hot, it would face away from the sun and in the direction of the wind that blew away the excess heat from its body. When cold, it would have the sail face the sun to warm up its body.
The sail may have also been used for indentification, as Ouranosaurus may have lived in herds for protection against predators like Suchomimus and Carcharodontosaurus. Possibly colored, its sail may have also been used to attract females or to intimidate mail rivals.
On each hand it bore a thumb claw that was much smaller than the thumb claw of Iguanodon. It had an unusual head that resembled a hadrosaur, a duckbilled dinosaur.
Ouranosaurus was a herbivore that had no teeth in the front but have large batteries of teeth on the sides of the jaws used to chew up plant food with its sharp beak.