Ankylosaurus

Ankylosaurus magniventris · Ankylosaurus is a large armored dinosaur with a tail club that lived in western North America at the very end of the Cretaceous Period.

It lived about 70 to 66 million years ago.

Ankylosaurus
Photo: Sphenaphinae, CC BY-SA 4.0
Ankylosaurus
Photo: Emily Willoughby (e.deinonychus@gmail.com, https://emilywilloughby.com); modifications by FunkMonk, CC BY-SA 3.0
Ankylosaurus
Photo: Tim Evanson, CC BY-SA 2.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassReptilia
OrderOrnithischia
FamilyAnkylosauridae
GenusAnkylosaurus
SpeciesAnkylosaurus magniventris

Where its fossils were found

Western North America: Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Fun facts

  • Ankylosaurus's tail club may have been strong enough to break the bones of an attacker.
  • Unlike other ankylosaurs, Ankylosaurus had nostrils that faced sideways rather than toward the front.
  • Ankylosaurus may have needed around 60 kilograms of ferns a day, about as much dry vegetation as a large elephant eats.
  • Ankylosaurus had bony half-rings of armor around its neck and a covering of armor plates called osteoderms.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).