What was the Ankylosaurus tail club used for?
The species name means “destroyer of shins” in Latin, referring to the ankylosaur’s 10-foot-long (3 meters) tail, which was tipped with a club that was likely used to swipe at the legs of predators.
What is the name of the dinosaur with the spiked tail?
Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus, (genus Stegosaurus), one of the various plated dinosaurs (Stegosauria) of the Late Jurassic Period (159 million to 144 million years ago) recognizable by its spiked tail and series of large triangular bony plates along the back.
Why did dinosaurs have spikes?
The most obvious theory is to defend themselves against predators. Spines and spikes like these occur much more commonly on plant-eating dinosaurs, which would have needed some way to protect themselves from meat-eating carnivores that might try to make them into a snack.
Which of these was a distinctive feature of Ankylosaurus?
A prominent feature of Ankylosaurus was its armor, consisting of knobs and plates of bone known as osteoderms, or scutes, embedded in the skin.
What is on the end of an Ankylosaurus tail?
In zoology, a club is a bony mass at the end of the tail of some dinosaurs and of some mammals, most notably the ankylosaurids and the glyptodonts, as well as meiolaniid turtles.
Is Stegosaurus a theropod?
Stegosaurus madagascariensis from Madagascar is known solely from teeth and was described by Piveteau in 1926. The teeth were variously attributed to a stegosaur, the theropod Majungasaurus, a hadrosaur or even a crocodylian, but is now considered a possible ankylosaur.
Are brontosaurus and brachiosaurus the same?
The key difference between Brontosaurus and Brachiosaurus is the appearance of them. Brontosaurus is an elephant-like dinosaur while Brachiosaurus is a giraffe-like dinosaur. Furthermore, Brontosaurus is one of the longest dinosaurs while Brachiosaurus is one of the tallest dinosaurs that lived on Earth.
What are Stegosaurus tail spikes called?
thagomizer
Among paleontologists, the four-spiked tail of Stegosaurus is called a “thagomizer.” It is one of a few terms inspired by one of Gary Larson’s beloved “Far Side” cartoons: a caveman points to a slide of a Stegosaurus tail and names the nasty-looking structure in honor of “the late Thag Simmons.” Humans and Stegosaurus …
Is Ankylosaurus Armor bulletproof?
These massive dinosaurs sported incredibly strong armor — bony plates that covered their backs, skulls, and even their eyes and cheeks. Though it’s an exaggeration to call the armor “bulletproof,” an Ankylosaurus could have likely survived a shot from a small pistol, he says.
Can Ankylosaurus beat at Rex?
An Ankylosaurus probably couldn’t kill a Tyrannosaurus rex with the club at the end of its tail, but new research suggests the bony bludgeon could definitely break its ankles.
How strong is a Ankylosaurus tail?
And these tails, Arbour concluded in a pair of studies published in 2009, could pack quite a wallop. While a pro baseball player can swing a bat with a force of 13 Newtons per second, Arbour says, “an ankylosaurid tail club would impact with an impulse of up to 4,800 Newtons per second!”
Did some sauropods have spikes on their tails?
Everyone knows that Stegosaurus had such spikes (technically called ” thagomizers ” in homage to a Gary Larson cartoon), but fewer people have heard that some sauropods had tail spikes, too. In the case of Spinophorosaurus, it appears that the sauropod had two pairs of large, bony spikes near the end of its tail.
Did Spinophorosaurus have spikes on its tail?
In the case of Spinophorosaurus, it appears that the sauropod had two pairs of large, bony spikes near the end of its tail. This arrangement is similar to that seen in Shunosaurus, a sauropod with a spiked tail club that lived around the same time in what is now China.
What is Ankylosaurus tail club made of?
The tail club (or tail knob) of Ankylosaurus was composed of two large osteoderms, with a row of small osteoderms at the midline, and two small osteoderms at the tip; these osteoderms obscured the last tail vertebra.
What is the name of the dinosaur in Ghostbusters?
Zuul from Ghostbusters. They were clad in bony armour from the snout to the end of the tail, often with spikes and a tail club that could be used to smash the legs of predators like the Tyrannosaurus rex cousin Gorgosaurus that lived alongside Zuul.