Dino card No. 0119 of 2,027

Anodontosaurus

Say it: an-oh-don-toh-SORE-us

Name means: “toothless lizard”1

Ate: PlantsArmoured dinosLate Cretaceous

Anodontosaurus was a tank-like dinosaur covered in bony armour, with a heavy club at the end of its tail. It munched on plants and lived in what is now Canada during the Late Cretaceous period.1

Lived

84 to 66 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Alberta, Canada3 1

Food

Plants3 1

Length

4 to 5 m1

Weight

2 tonnes1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 1.5 cars

as long as 5 dogs nose to tailas long as 28 bananas end to endas heavy as 67 big dogsas heavy as 400 watermelons

How big was Anodontosaurus compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Anodontosaurus had a wide, pointed tail club made of bone that it could swing to defend itself.1

Its skull had small polygonal plates of bone behind the eye, called postocular caputegulae.1

The name 'toothless lizard' was a mistake: the first fossil had its teeth crushed and hidden, so the scientist thought it had no teeth.1

Anodontosaurus lived between about 75.6 and 67 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous.1

There are two species of Anodontosaurus: A. lambei and A. inceptus.1

For many years scientists thought Anodontosaurus was the same as another ankylosaur called Euoplocephalus, but later studies showed it was a different genus.1

AI-made picture of Anodontosaurus — An AI-made picture of how Anodontosaurus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Anodontosaurus

?How big was Anodontosaurus?

Anodontosaurus was a medium-sized ankylosaur, measuring up to 4 to 5 metres (13 to 16 ft) long and weighing about 2 metric tons (2.2 short tons).1

?What did Anodontosaurus eat?

It was a herbivore, so it ate plants. It was a ground-dwelling dinosaur that munched on vegetation.1 2

?Did Anodontosaurus have a tail club?

Yes, it had a wide, pointed tail club made of bone at the end of its armored tail, which it could swing to defend itself.1 2

?Why is it called Anodontosaurus?

The name means 'toothless lizard' in Greek, but that was a mistake. The first fossil had its teeth crushed and hidden, so the scientist thought it had no teeth.1 2

?When did Anodontosaurus live?

It lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 75.6 to 67 million years ago, in what is now Canada.1

?Was Anodontosaurus a dinosaur?

Yes, Anodontosaurus was a dinosaur, specifically an ankylosaurid dinosaur within the subfamily Ankylosaurinae.1

Ask Rex about Anodontosaurus

Rex only answers questions about this page. 3 questions a day.

Rex is an AI and can make mistakes. He runs on servers in the EU and questions are never saved. Never type your name or other personal things.

Myth buster

Myth: Anodontosaurus had no teeth because its name means 'toothless lizard'.

Truth: The name was based on a crushed fossil where the teeth were hidden. Anodontosaurus actually had teeth like other ankylosaurs.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Anodontosaurus
Named by: Sternberg 19293
Group: Armoured dinos
Family / clade: Ankylosauridae3
Classification: Ornithischia > Ankylosauria > Ankylosauridae > Thyreophora3
Age of the rocks: 84 to 66 million years (Campanian / Maastrichtian)3
Rock formations: Horseshoe Canyon, Dinosaur Park3
Countries: Canada3
Fossil records: 14 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Anodontosaurus was named by Charles Mortram Sternberg in 1929, based on a skeleton collected in 1916 near Morrin, Alberta, Canada.1
Still debated: Scientists still debate exactly which specimens belong to Anodontosaurus and which to its close relatives like Scolosaurus and Dyoplosaurus.1

Where the facts come from

Anodontosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Anodontosaurus (prehistoric-wildlife.com)
Anodontosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

Rex is hungry! Dino Wiki is a dad's project for his dino-loving son, free with no ads. Grown-ups can feed Rex a snack to help keep it online.Feed Rex