Ankylosaurus vs T. rex

Ankylosaurus vs T. rex

The above drawing shows an Ankylosaurus magniventris in battle with a Tyrannosaurus rex.  When threatened an Ankylosaur could use it's armored tail to defend itself.  Ankylosaurus magniventris in particular had a heavy club of a tail to wield for that defense. The Pterosaur is the well known Pteranodon.  An Ankylosaurus might have run if there was anywhere to go, but most likely it would stand its ground and hunker down low to the ground.  The only way a T. rex could win is if it flipped the Ankylosaurus over.  However, that club could crack a leg or ankle bone and that kind of injury could completely disable a T.rex. 

Ankylosaurus was one of the last of the large dinosaurs.  It was a non-avian dinosaur . . .it was not a bird.  It was one of if not the most armored animal in the history of life.  It was a quadruped that had a think shell-like armor.  Its armor was similar to modern crocodiles and alligators.  It was so thick and tough that even the mighty T. rex could not bite through it.  That is very significant because a Tyrannosaurus rex had the most powerful bite of any animal EVER! 

Ankylosaurus weighed between 4 and 8 tons.  It had a length between 20 and 26 feet or between 6 and 8 meters.  The complete scientific name of Ankylosaurus is Ankylosaurus magniventris.   Ankylosaurus means fused lizard....   and magniventris means great belly.  The last vertebrae of an Ankylosaurus tail were fused, making the club sort of like a medieval mace.  Maybe that is where they got the name fused lizard from. 

Medieval Mace weapon

Ankylosaurus Tail Club

There are several similar types of heavily armored dinosaurs that look quite a lot like Ankylosaurus and they are all called Ankylosurs or Ankylosauroids.  But Ankylosaurus maginventris is the largest of this type of dinosaur.  We think that only some of the Ankylosaur family had clubbed tails but all had some version of the dermal armor.  This type of armor is extremely thickened skin and it is VERY dense.  As I mentioned before, crocodilians have this type of armor.  Among this family of armored dinosaurs, Ankylosaurus magniventris was the largest.  

In one of natures tricks of convergent evolution, the horned toad or horny toad is a LIZARD...not a toad...that LOOKS a lot like a very small Ankyloaur.   Although commonly called the Horny Toad it is in fact a type of lizard and it is more correctly called the Horned Lizard.   But when I was catching them while growing up in the Utah, Nevada, and Arizona deserts...we just called them Horny Toads.  I ALWAYS thought they looked more like a dinosaur than any other currently living animal. 

Horny Toad

One final note.   I saw a documentary on Ankylosaurus and it noted the very tiny brain.  A T. rex or any of the small raptors were gifted compared to the Ankylosaurs.  In the documentary they said that Ankylosaurus was as dumb as a fence post.  Yet it had such great armor it did not need great brains to be very successful in its environment.