Antaractopelta
Antarctopelta was a type of Ankylosaur that lived in Antarctica. The continent was not as cold then as it is now. In fact, in the past there were forests in Antarctica. It is thought that the plants and animals that once lived in Antarctica had to adapt to long dark winters to survive. The name "Antarctopelta" means "Antarctic Shield." This is an appropriate name because like all Ankylosaurs, Antarctopelta was covered in very thick heavay armor. We don't yet know if it had a club at the end of its tail, but many types of Ankylosaurs did. Some types of Ankylosaurs do not have a club.
Ankylosaurus Tail Club
Antarctopelta was a samller type of Ankylosaur. But that does not mean it was tiny. It was not a horny toad or horned lizard. (Althogh that modern animal LOOKS a lot like an Ankylosaur.)
Antarctopelta was 4 meters long or about 13 feet long. It probably weighed 1.2 tons. It was only the second Ankylosaur ever discovered in the Southern Hemisphere.
Antarctopelta is known from a few bones including some skull pieces and lots of armor plating. One unusual feathre is a supraorbital horn. This was a pair of tiny horns that were directly over each eye. Meaning one horn stuck out over each eye. From what I remember, all Ankylosaurs were so well armored that even their eyelids were armored. Now we know that there was one that even had a horn over each eye!
Note the fuzzyness of the Pterosaur up in the sky. There is new evidence that perhaps Pterosaurs were covered in a fur-like fuzz or perhaps protofeathers. This does not chang the fact that Birds did NOT come from Pterosaurs. Birds evolved from small Theropod Dinosaurs. . . like Microraptor.
Microraptor flying through the Forest
This is an example of the flying dinosaurs. . . notice it has feathers and is NOT a Pterosaur.
Ankylosaurus vs T. rex
This type of Ankylosaur was up to 35 feet or about 11 meters.
It was much much bigger than Antarctopelts.
But notice that the armor is very similar.
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