Ankylosaurus is an ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous North America.
Description[]
Credit: Futaka Kouhei.
Ankylosaurus was discovered by Barnum Brown in 1906 in Hell Creek, Montana. The creature has large protective plates running down its back fitted with bony osteoderms for protection. If necessary, the Ankylosaurus could swing a large mass of bone on its tail (dubbed by many a tail club) that could break a Tyrannosaurus' leg. The armor on the Ankylosaurus' back was bony and could break a predators teeth if they dared attack the animal.
Credit: Sphenaphinae on the Wikimedia Commons.
Because the Ankylosaurus' only weakness was its soft underbelly, many predators assumed the Ankylosaurus was too much trouble for what it's worth. The blows some Tyrannosaurids endured were in some cases fatal and ended in retreat. Even the Ankylosaurs eyelids were armored. The Ankylosaurus' beak was likely used to eat tough plants and chip off pieces of rotting log wood.
Paleoecology[]
Ankylosaurus lived in North America, most notably the Hell Creek formation of the Late Cretaceous. Ankylosaurus went extinct with Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus and others during the K-PG mass extinction event.
Gallery[]
Reconstructions[]
