The Ankylosaurus is a plant-eating dinosaur from the Cretaceous period. You can recognize it by its armor and its tail club. We’ll tell you everything you need to know, with seven key features and a profile.
Ankylosaurus is one of the more well-known dinosaur genera, thanks to its impressive tail club. It’s known from documentaries, video games like "ARK: Survival Evolved," and movies like Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World.
Cool Facts About the Ankylosaurus
In this chapter, we’ll tell you where the Ankylosaurus was discovered and why it has its name. You’ll also learn about its relatives, who looked very similar. Along the way, we’ve sprinkled in some exciting dinosaur facts for you.
Discovery Sites and Species Discovery
An Ankylosaurus tail club was found in the Provincial Park in Alberta (Canada)
The dinosaur Ankylosaurus was first discovered in North America. The only recognized species is Ankylosaurus magniventris. It was described in 1908 by Barnum Brown.
Other finds were also made in North America, specifically in Montana and Wyoming (USA) and Alberta (Canada). These included three completely preserved skulls, a tail club, and bone fragments that connected to the head.
No bones from its body have been preserved, but we have some from its relatives in the Ankylosauria group. They have similar body features to Ankylosaurus magniventris.
Dinosaur bones were already found in antiquity and the Middle Ages. However, people back then didn’t know how to interpret the gigantic fossils. This led to myths and fairy tales about dragons and giants, to whom the bones were thought to have belonged.
Starting in the 19th century, more and more researchers began to study the prehistoric finds and declared them a separate animal group (Latin: "Dinosauria") in 1842. The first complete skeleton found belonged to a small carnivore named Compsognathus.
Meaning of the Name
Translated from Ancient Greek, Ankylosaurus means "bent" or "stiffened lizard." The name is composed of "ankylos" (for "bent," "curved") and "sauros" (for "lizard").
The dinosaur was named by the American paleontologist Barnum Brown, who first described it. The species Ankylosaurus magniventris means something like "stiffened lizard with a large belly."
Relatives of the Ankylosaurus
Saichania was an ankylosaur from East Asia
As mentioned, several relatives of Ankylosaurus magniventris have been discovered. From the Ankylosauridae family, for example, skulls of Gobisaurus, Minotaurasaurus, and Shamosaurus from the Cretaceous have been found.
However, skeletons have also been found of more distant relatives from the Ankylosauria group. One example is Saichania from the Late Cretaceous. A very well-preserved skeleton of it was found.
Some bone parts, like its tail club, were also found from Talarurus, a slightly smaller ankylosaur of 4 to 6 meters in length. Its tail club, however, was slimmer than that of other members of the Ankylosauria.
7 Features of the Ankylosaurus
Below, you’ll find the most important features of the Ankylosaurus. These include the classification of its genus and species, its habitat, its body structure, as well as its weight, size, and speed.
You’ll also learn about its lifestyle, diet, and life expectancy. Afterward, we’ve summarized some key features in a short profile for you.
Classification of the Genus and Species
Dinosaurs can be divided into two orders: bird-hipped dinosaurs (Ornithischia) and lizard-hipped dinosaurs (Saurischia).
Bird-hipped dinosaurs are mostly herbivores. Among them, there are both bipeds and quadrupeds. This includes, for example, ceratopsians like Triceratops, but also ornithopods ("bird-foot dinosaurs") or pachycephalosaurs like Pachycephalosaurus.
The counterpart to the bird-hipped dinosaurs are the lizard-hipped dinosaurs (Saurischia). This group includes both bipedal carnivores like tyrannosaurs and long-necked, quadrupedal herbivores like Brachiosaurus.
Ankylosaurs belong to the order of bird-hipped dinosaurs and fall into the group of shield-bearers: Thyreophora. Within this group, there is another group to which ankylosaurs belong: Eurypoda ("broad feet"), which also includes stegosaurs.
The genus Ankylosaurus belongs to the family Ankylosauridae. It is one of the two subgroups of the Ankylosauria and is characterized by a similar body structure, a tail club, armor, and a slightly triangular skull. Ankylosaurus magniventris is the only species of the genus Ankylosaurus recognized so far.
When Ankylosaurus Lived
When Ankylosaurus lived
Ankylosaurus lived from 69.9 to 66 million years ago in the Cretaceous period. More specifically, it lived at the end of the Cretaceous, the so-called Late Cretaceous. This period was just before the extinction of the dinosaurs. The exact period in which the sturdy herbivore lived is called the Late Maastrichtian.
Habitat
Ankylosaurus lived in North America, where Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops also lived at the time. The climate in the Cretaceous period was quite stable and is referred to as a "warm climate." This means that the Earth’s poles were not frozen at that time.
Today, on the other hand, we live in an ice age where the North and South poles are frozen. The warm climate back then caused the sea level to be very high. There were desert landscapes, but also forests.
What’s certain is that Ankylosaurus must have had sufficient access to low-growing plants to maintain its body weight.
Body Structure and Posture of the Ankylosaurus
The massive herbivore moved on four legs (quadrupedal). It had broad feet that ended in hooves at the front. Its front legs were a little shorter than its hind legs. It held its head and tail roughly parallel to the ground.
It had a rather thick skull, which was up to 70 centimeters wide and 55 centimeters long. It had a broad horny beak on its snout and a few small teeth in its mouth, with which it could grind plants.
Its skull and eyelids were protected by bony plates. It also had them on its head, and horns protruded backwards from the back of its head. Similar horns were also found on its cheeks, one on each side.
Its most striking feature is its armor in transverse rows. It had differently shaped bony plates that were located at varying distances on its skin. Some were flat, some were domed upwards like humps, and the width also varied.
The plates were most prominent on the neck, rear, and hips. They protected it from attacks. There are suggestions that perhaps its limbs and tail were also armored. Its belly, however, was almost certainly not protected.
Like most Ankylosauridae, Ankylosaurus had a tail club. It was connected to the last vertebrae of the tail and was thus like an extreme thickening of the tail tip. With it, the massive dinosaur could actively defend itself and even shatter bones, as the strong club could be used quite flexibly.
Weight, Size, and Speed
Weight, size, and speed of the Ankylosaurus
Ankylosaurus grew to be 8 to 9 meters long, about 2 meters high, and weighed 3.5 tons. That means it weighed more than two average-sized cars.
Researchers have not yet been able to make any more precise statements about the speed of the armored herbivore. Stegosaurus, which also belongs to the Thyreophora and Eurypoda groups, is estimated to have a speed of 6 to 7 kilometers per hour.
It is likely that Ankylosaurus could reach a similar speed. However, there is no evidence for this. Due to its powerful build, it was probably not the fastest.
Other herbivores certainly reached higher speeds. Triceratops, for example, is estimated to have a top speed of 32 kilometers per hour. Pachycephalosaurus, known as the "thick-headed lizard," probably reached similar speeds.
Among the fastest dinosaurs were Gallimimus, Ornithomimus, Compsognathus, and Velociraptor. The bipedal carnivore Velociraptor is estimated to have reached between 38 and 60 kilometers per hour.
Ornithomimus was also a biped. It resembled the Velociraptor in stature, but nothing is known about its eating habits. It grew to be 3 to 4 meters long and may have even reached a speed of more than 60 kilometers per hour.
The small carnivore Compsognathus was only between 90 and 125 centimeters long, but according to recent studies, it reached 64 kilometers per hour. Gallimimus resembled the modern ostrich and is said to have reached around 70 kilometers per hour, just like it.
Lifestyle and Diet
Lifestyle and diet of the ankylosaurs
Since the Ankylosaurus had a small brain, researchers assume that it did not have complex social behavior. Ankylosaurs were probably loners and at most occasionally joined migrating herds to be better protected. The dinosaur was not a flight animal and moved only slowly.
Apart from the fact that its armor and club served to defend against predators, they could also have been used for fights among its own kind.
The armored colossus was a herbivore and probably fed on low-growing plants like ferns or cycads. The toothless horny beak of the Ankylosaurus was ideal for plucking plants. It then crushed them a little with its teeth and swallowed them.
It is conceivable that Ankylosaurus, like many other dinosaurs, swallowed so-called stomach stones (gastroliths), which helped it with digestion. This is because its teeth and jaw were not designed for extensive chewing movements.
Life Expectancy
The exact life expectancy of dinosaurs has not yet been determined. However, paleontologists assume that 'smaller' genera of the giant lizards did not live longer than 40 years.
This includes, for example, Ankylosaurus, Stegosaurus, or Tyrannosaurus Rex. The largest dinosaurs, the sauropods (long-necked quadrupeds), are said to have been able to reach an age between 50 and 120 years.
However, there is no clear evidence for these estimates. Moreover, it is questionable whether the dinosaurs even reached their age limit under the living conditions of that time (harsh environment, changing climate, predators).
Profile: The Ankylosaurus
Profile: The Ankylosaurus
In this profile, you’ll find all the important features of the Ankylosaurus summarized briefly once again. This includes, for example, the time in which it lived and important physical characteristics by which you can recognize it.
We also have data on its size and weight, as well as the classification of its species. After that, you’ll find information about the Ankylosaurus in the media, followed by details about its extinction.
- Genus Name:
Ankylosaurus ("Stiffened Lizard") - Known Species:
Ankylosaurus magniventris - Family:
Ankylosauridae - Group:
Ankylosaurs (Ankylosauria) - Order:
Bird-hipped dinosaurs (Ornithischia) - Period:
Cretaceous (Late Cretaceous, 69.9–66 million years ago) - Habitat:
North America (Montana, Wyoming, Alberta) - Diet:
Herbivore - Physical Characteristics:
Quadruped, short legs, heavy armor on the back with bony plates of various sizes in the skin, horny beak, tail club - Length:
8–9 meters - Height:
about 2 meters - Weight:
3.5 tons
The Ankylosaurus in the Media
Since their discovery, dinosaurs have fascinated young and old alike. Along with Triceratops, Stegosaurus, and Brachiosaurus, Ankylosaurus is one of the most famous herbivorous dinosaurs. The most popular carnivores are Tyrannosaurus Rex, Spinosaurus, and Velociraptor.
This is because its impressive tail club has often been featured in popular culture. For example, you can find it as a children’s toy from Schleich, in card games, on posters, in science books, documentaries, and feature films.
It appeared in "Jurassic Park III" (2001), "Jurassic World" (2015), and "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" (2018), and you can even interactively tame it to ride on it in the video game "ARK: Survival Evolved" (2017). Since 2020, there has also been a children’s series based on Jurassic World, "Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous," in which the Ankylosaurus also plays a role.
Extinction of the Dinosaur
Reconstructed Ankylosaurus skeleton
Ankylosaurus lived on our Earth for about 3.9 million years. That’s longer than humans have existed. It died out in the great mass extinction of the lizard-like dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Only the dinosaurs that evolved into our modern birds survived.
This event is known as the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, as the Cretaceous period ended and the Paleogene began. According to researchers, several factors were responsible for the extinction of the many dinosaur species.
For one, 66 million years ago, a 14-kilometer-wide meteorite struck what is now the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. In addition, several volcanic eruptions and a change in climate have been documented. The living conditions of the animals changed, and about 50 percent of all animal species died out.
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