Tatankacephalus
Tatankacephalus was an armoured dinosaur that walked on four legs and munched on plants. It had a thick, bony head and a big ridge at the back of its skull. It lived in what is now Montana, USA, about 100 million years ago.51
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Fun facts
Tatankacephalus had a dome on its front skull, like some other armoured dinosaurs, which may have helped protect its brain.1
It had a large ridge at the back of its head that hid the back part of the skull when viewed from above.1
Its eye socket was round, and the hole at the back of the skull (foramen magnum) pointed down and backward.1
Unlike some later ankylosaurs, Tatankacephalus still had teeth in the front of its mouth (premaxillary teeth).1
It had a visible opening on the side of its skull (lateral temporal fenestra), which later ankylosaurs lost.1
Tatankacephalus is known from a skull and some other bones, but no complete skeleton has been found yet.1
Most asked questions about Tatankacephalus
?How big was Tatankacephalus?
About 7 metres (23 feet) long.3
?What did Tatankacephalus eat?
It ate plants. It was a herbivore.5
?When did Tatankacephalus live?
It lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 108.5 million years ago.3
?Where was Tatankacephalus found?
Its fossils were found in the Cloverly Formation of central Montana, USA.3
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Myth buster
Myth: Some people think all armoured dinosaurs were slow and clumsy.
Truth: Scientists don't know exactly how fast Tatankacephalus moved, but many armoured dinosaurs were likely able to walk steadily and may have been quicker than they look.5
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Tatankacephalus
- Named by
- Parsons and Parsons 20095
- Group
- Armoured dinos
- Family / clade
- Nodosauridae5
- Classification
- Ornithischia > Ankylosauria > Nodosauridae > Thyreophora5
- Age of the rocks
- 113 to 100 million years (Albian)5
- Rock formations
- Cloverly5
- Countries
- USA5
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database5
- Discovery
- Tatankacephalus was named by William L. Parsons and Kristen M. Parsons in 2009, based on a skull and other bones found in the Cloverly Formation of Montana.51
- Still debated
- Scientists debate whether Tatankacephalus belongs to the ankylosaurid family or the nodosaurid family, because it has features of both groups.51
Where the facts come from
- A new ankylosaur (Dinosauria: Ankylosauria) from the Lower Cretaceous Cloverly Formation of central Montana (cdnsciencepub.com)
- Tatankacephalus Parsons & Parsons 2009 - Encyclopedia of Life (eol.org)
- Tatankacephalus (en.wikipedia.org)
- November 3, 2009 | Everything Dinosaur Blog (blog.everythingdinosaur.com)
- Tatankacephalus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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