Ankylosaurus Dinosaur is Compared Like A "Living Tank". Did You Know?

Equipped with defensive plating and a formidable tail club, this dino was certainly built like one. Today, we’ll be taking a closer look … from a safe distance, of course!

Ankylosaurus is a dinosaur which lived approximately 70 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period and roamed the Western United States and Alberta, Canada. It was named Ankylosaurus - a name which means “fused lizard”.

This animal was approximately 30 feet long, 6 feet wide, 4 feet tall and weighed right around 4 tons.

These dinosaurs were herbivores - meaning they fed on plants and trees. Since its teeth were insufficient to crush plant matter, it more than likely used their teeth to strip leaves from branches. They would then use fermentation to break down this plant material in their guts.

It's easy to see why. Ankylosaurus is often compared to an army tank or bus. It has many large oval plates that were fused into its leathery skin, and these plates covered this dinosaur’s entire body except for its belly, which would have been exposed. This dinosaur also had two rows of spikes that traveled down its body, large horns on top of its head and a club like tail that had spikes on it.

All of this armor was necessary for it to protect itself from some of the apex predators of the time including the T Rex, Deinonychus and Tarbosaurus. Even though they were slow moving, and their tail clubs would not have been much defense against a Tyrannosaurus rex. The only way any of these predators could wound the Ankylosaurus would be for them to attack the underbelly of this dinosaur where there wasn’t any armor.

But their extremely tough armor might have foiled the 8-inch-long (20-centimeter-long) teeth of the king of the dinosaurs. Ankylosaurus roamed across the North American West, snipping plants with its little leaf-shaped teeth. It had few teeth compared to the duckbills and horned dinosaurs

The top of the dinosaur was almost completely covered with thick armor consisting of massive knobs and oval plates of bone, known as osteoderms or scutes, which are also common on crocodiles, armadillos and some lizards.

The osteoderms of all ankylosaurs were composed of an thin outer cortical or compact bone and an thick inner cancellous bone spongy. According to an analysis, the osteoderms were probably covered with skin and keratin, the fibrous protein that makes up hair and nails in people.

As with the other more popular dinosaurs, the depiction of the Ankylosaurus in art has changed considerably over the years as more and more new information has come to light.

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