Ahshislepelta
Ahshislepelta was a small, armored dinosaur that lived in what is now New Mexico, USA, about 74 million years ago. It was covered in bony plates and spikes called osteoderms, which protected it like a suit of armor. This dinosaur was a slow-moving plant-eater that used its tough body to stay safe from predators.13
When did it live?
How big was it?
How long was it?
How tall was it?
at the hips
How heavy was it?
as long as 3 dogs nose to tail🍌as long as 17 bananas end to end🍉as heavy as 100 watermelons🧸as heavy as 26 kindergarten kids🎒as heavy as 16 school kids🏃could run 100 metres in 17 seconds (the fastest human needs 9.6)How big was Ahshislepelta compared to YOU?
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Fun facts
Ahshislepelta is known from only one partial skeleton, including shoulder bones, arm bones, and many bony plates.1
Its name comes from the Ah-shi-sle-pah Wash, the place where its fossils were found, and the Greek word for shield.1
The species name 'minor' means 'smaller', because it was a small adult compared to other North American ankylosaurs.1
Its shoulder blade had a special overhanging ridge called the acromion, which helped scientists tell it apart from other armored dinosaurs.1
The largest bony plate found was 15 cm long, 12 cm wide, and 10 cm tall, while the smallest was only 1 cm across.1
Some of its bony plates were arranged in rosette patterns, with a big central plate surrounded by tiny bones.1
Scientists are not sure whether Ahshislepelta was an ankylosaurid or a nodosaurid, two different families of armored dinosaurs.1
Most asked questions about Ahshislepelta
?How big was Ahshislepelta?
It was a small ankylosaur, about 31 cm long in the upper arm bone (humerus). It was larger than Eopinacosaurus but smaller than Talarurus and Pinacosaurus.1
?What did Ahshislepelta eat?
It was a plant-eater, like other ankylosaurs. It used its tough, armored body for protection while it ate plants.1
?When did Ahshislepelta live?
It lived about 74 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.1
?Where was Ahshislepelta found?
Its fossils were found in the Ah-shi-sle-pah Wash in New Mexico, USA, in the Kirtland Formation.1
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Ahshislepelta
- Named by
- Burns and Sullivan 20113
- Group
- Armoured dinos
- Family / clade
- Ankylosauridae3
- Classification
- Ornithischia > Ankylosauria > Ankylosauridae > Thyreophora3
- Age of the rocks
- 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)3
- Rock formations
- Kirtland3
- Countries
- USA3
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
- Discovery
- The first fossils of Ahshislepelta were found in 2005 in the Ah-shi-sle-pah Wilderness Study Area in New Mexico. They were collected over several years and named in 2011 by Michael Burns and Robert M. Sullivan.13
- Still debated
- Scientists still debate whether Ahshislepelta was an ankylosaurid or a nodosaurid, because different studies place it in different groups of armored dinosaurs.1
Where the facts come from
- Ahshislepelta (en.wikipedia.org)
- Ahshislepelta | Part of the Ankylosaur Family of Dinosaurs (dinosaurmadness.com)
- Ahshislepelta in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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