Ankylosaurus

Ankylosaurus was a huge armored dinosaur, measuring around 10 m long, 1.8 m wide and 1.2 m tall. It weighed roughly 3-4 tons. It was one of the last dinosaurs prior to appear before the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction. It is one of the most heavily armored dinosaurs to have ever been found.



Description
Ankylosaurus was the last of the ankylosaurids (armored dinosaurs)to evolve,and the biggest.It lived in the Cretaceous Period in North America. Ankylosaurus has often been likened to a living tank, supported by experiments that show Ankylosaur's armour was bullet-proof.Ankylosaurus was about the size of an elephant, but had a low-slung, very wide body. Ankylosaurus was an ankylosaur, whose intelligence (as measured by its relative brain to body weight, or EQ) was low among the dinosaurs. It was coated in bony armour unlike a turtle's shell, more akin to a crocodile.Its entire top side was heavily protected from carnivores with thick, oval plates embedded (fused) in its leathery skin, 2 rows of spikes along its body, large horns that projected from the back of the head, and a club-like tail. It even had bony plates as protection for its eyes. Only its under-belly was unplated. Flipping it over was the only way to wound it.

Ankylosaurus had four short legs (the rear legs were larger than the front legs), a short neck, and a wide skull with a tiny brain. It had five toes on each foot. This huge, extremely heavy reptile was an herbivore (it ate only plants). It had to eat a huge amount of low-lying plant material to sustain itself so its gut must have been very large. It probably had a fermentation compartment to aid in the digestion of the tough plant material, producing prodigious amounts of gas. Ankylosaurus fossils have been found in the western USA (Montana) and Canada (Alberta). Two Ankylosaurus skulls and three partial skeletons (including armor and a tail club) have been found. Ankylosaurus was named by Barnum Brown in 1908. Ankylosaur trackways were found near Sucre, Bolivia, South America.

Ankylosaurus magniventris existed between 65 and 70 million years ago, in the Maastrichian age of the Late Cretaceous period, and was one of the last dinosaurs before they were wiped out by the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event.



Popular Culture
Ankylosaurus is a very popular and well-known dinosaur. Despite its rarity it has become one the most famous dinosaur.
 * Ankylosaurus appears in Jurassic Park III, Jurassic World, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and Jurassic World Dominion.
 * It is also seen in many dinosaur video games such as Zoo Tycoon, Zoo Tycoon 2, Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, and Dino Island.
 * Ankylosaurus has been also featured in many documentaries about dinosaurs.