Dino card No. 1361 of 2,027

Panoplosaurus

Say it: pan-oh-ploh-SORE-us

Name means: “well-armoured lizard”1

Ate: PlantsArmoured dinosLate Cretaceous

Panoplosaurus was a tank-like dinosaur covered in bony plates and lumps, but it had no big spikes. It walked on four legs and munched on plants in the Late Cretaceous period.1 2

Lived

84 to 66 million years ago5

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Alberta, Canada, and possibly Montana, Texas, and Wyoming in the USA1 5

Food

Plants1 5

Length

5 to 7 m1 2

estimates vary

Weight

1.6 tonnes1

Height

2 m3

at the hips

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How tall was it?

at the hips

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 1 cars

as long as 7 dogs nose to tailas long as 39 bananas end to endas heavy as 53 big dogsas heavy as 320 watermelonsabout as tall as a door

How big was Panoplosaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Panoplosaurus had no big spikes on its body, unlike many other armoured dinosaurs. Instead, it had smooth, regularly shaped plates and small bony bumps.1

Its shoulder blade was completely fused to the coracoid bone, which is a rare feature among ankylosaurs.1

The hand of Panoplosaurus may have had only three fingers, fewer than most other armoured dinosaurs.1

Its skull had a very domed top and a bony plate covering the cheek, which might be unique to this species.1

Panoplosaurus lived about 76 to 75 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Alberta, Canada.1 2

Scientists think Panoplosaurus may have swallowed small stones to help grind up plants in its stomach, but the evidence is not certain.1

AI-made picture of Panoplosaurus — An AI-made picture of how Panoplosaurus 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 Panoplosaurus

?How big was Panoplosaurus?

About 5 metres (16 feet) long and weighed around 1,600 kilograms (3,500 pounds).1

?What did Panoplosaurus eat?

It was an herbivore, meaning it ate plants like ferns and cycads.4

?Did Panoplosaurus have a tail club?

No, it did not have a tail club. It was a nodosaurid ankylosaur with no tail club.4

?When did Panoplosaurus live?

It lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 76 to 75 million years ago.1 2

?Where was Panoplosaurus found?

Fossils have been found in Alberta, Canada, and possibly in the USA.1 2

?Was Panoplosaurus a dinosaur?

Yes, it was an armoured dinosaur, specifically a type of ankylosaur.1 2

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Myth buster

Myth: Many people think all armoured dinosaurs had big spikes or clubs on their tails.

Truth: Panoplosaurus had no prominent spikes anywhere on its body, and its tail lacked a club, unlike some other ankylosaurs.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Panoplosaurus
Named by: Lambe 19195
Group: Armoured dinos
Family / clade: Nodosauridae5
Classification: Ornithischia > Ankylosauria > Nodosauridae > Thyreophora5
Age of the rocks: 84 to 66 million years (Campanian / Maastrichtian)5
Rock formations: Dinosaur Park, Ferris, Two Medicine5
Countries: USA, Canada5
Fossil records: 15 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: In 1917, Charles M. Sternberg found a nearly complete skull and skeleton in Alberta, Canada. Lawrence Lambe named it Panoplosaurus mirus in 1919, but he died before his work was published.1
Still debated: Scientists debate which fossils belong to Panoplosaurus and which belong to its close relative Edmontonia, because their remains are very similar.1

Where the facts come from

Panoplosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Panoplosaurus | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Panoplosaurus (dcfs.developer.istanbul)
enchantedlearning.com (enchantedlearning.com)
Panoplosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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