VR Jurassic Encyclopedia #18
Ankylosaurus dinosaur facts 360 Education
This is another article regarding our VR 360 Jurassic Encyclopedia series. In today’s episode, we will try to give you some interesting facts about the dinosaur Ankylosaurus.
Today’s episode will be dedicated to Ankylosaurus. This dinosaur inhabited North America and lived during the Cretaceous period about 68 – 66 million years ago. Ankylosaurus is considered to be probably the largest representative of ankylosaurids.
In 1900, the first fossils of Ankylosaurus were discovered in the Lance Formation in Wyoming. The skeleton consisted of 77 armor plates and was excavated together with the remains of Tyrannosaurus, which was mistakenly attributed to a completely different dinosaur. Then in 1906 in the formation of Hell Creek in Montana (United States) were discovered another fossil of this dinosaur, which in this case was correctly classified and attributed to the appropriate specimen. The discovered skeleton consisted of the upper part of the skull, two teeth, part of the shoulder rim, cervical, dorsal and caudal vertebrae. In addition, the fossils also contained part of the ribs and over thirty armor plates. In 1947, more parts of the skeleton of this dinosaur were found and the largest known skull of Ankylosaurus was found then.
When it comes to the size of this dinosaur, it was, as we wrote earlier, the largest known ankylosaur dinosaur. It is estimated that an adult specimen could measure up to 6.25m in length and 1.7m in hip height. The skull of the dinosaur was also of considerable size, as it is estimated that it could measure up to 64.5 cm long and 74.5 cm wide. The weight of the dinosaur ranged from 4.8 to even 8 tons.
In the structure of Ankylosaurus also played an important role in its armor, which consisted of nodules and plates of bone called osteoderms or scales, embedded in the skin. The tail of this dinosaur also contained osteoderms, which were with the last few tail vertebrae. It is speculated that Anyklosaurus used its tail for active defense. Due to the design of the tail, the animal was able to transfer tremendous force to the tail itself.
It is believed that Ankylosaurus was a herbivorous dinosaur with a varied diet consisting of both hard leaves and also pulpy fruits. It is speculated that the animal fed on abundant ferns and low-growing shrubs. Additionally, as an interesting note, it is likely that Ankylosaurus did not swallow food whole but used some type of chewing.
As always, this is just some of the information that is included in our new VR Jurassic Encyclopedia #18 video series. For all the details on Ankylosaurus, visit our channel on the YouTube platform and continue our VR 360 video education about dinosaurs.