ANKYLOSAURUS DINOSAUR

Ankylosaurus, means 'stiff lizard'. Clearly this name was chosen due to the rigidity of the bony Armour plated covering.
This was discovered by Brown in 1908. It remains many fossilized of the Ankylosaurus have been found in North America-but no complete skeletons.

It has a dimensions of 10 meters length, 2.5 meters height and 4 tonnes weight. There food was herbivore.

Ankylosaurus, was a massive, gigantic dinosaur, yet quite agile. It moved on four legs, keeping its front legs slightly bent sideways in order to support its weight better. Head, neck back and tail were all protected by thick plates of solid bone, one overlapping the next to form one side of the body to other and with rows of strong, pointed spokes-an impenetrable defense against the teeth and the claws of the fiercest predators such as the Albertosaurus and the Tyrannosaurus.

On its tail, the Ankylosaurus had a bony structure similar to a club-one powerful blow would be enough to break the bones of the enemy.
Some scientists believe that this club was used not only as a defense but also in ritual fights beetwen males in order to claim females during the mating season.


The only part of the Ankylosaurus not covered by the armour-plating was the abdomen-and so it is possible that during attacks by more than one enemy, it would crouch down in order to protect this unprotected area of the body.

Dinosaurs of the Ankylosaurus family died out at the end of the Cretaceous Period, between 65 and 68 million years ago.
Therefore they were among the last dinosaurs to populate the Earth before the mass extinction.

Now, as then the armour-plating must have completely defended the adult Ankylosaurus against attack by predators-especially when combined with its extraordinary size-as daunting as that of today's huge elephant, the hippopotamus and the RHINOCEROS.