Dino card No. 1922 of 2,027

Wuerhosaurus

Say it: woo-er-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “Wuerho lizard”5

Ate: PlantsPlated dinosEarly Cretaceous

Wuerhosaurus was a plated dinosaur that munched on plants in ancient China. It had bony plates on its back and a spiky tail to protect itself. This stegosaur lived during the early Cretaceous period, about 137 to 100 million years ago.5

Lived

137 to 100 million years ago5

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Xinjiang and Nei Mongol, China1

Food

Plants5

Length

5 to 7 m1

estimated

Weight

2 tonnes to 4 tonnes1

Height

2 to 2.5 m1

at the hips

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 4 bicycles in a rowas long as 39 bananas end to endas heavy as 2.5 carsas heavy as 130 big dogsas heavy as 800 watermelonsabout as tall as a door

How big was Wuerhosaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Wuerhosaurus was named by Chinese paleontologist Dong Zhiming in 1973.5

Its fossils were found in the Lianmuqin Formation in Xinjiang, China.2

Some scientists think Wuerhosaurus might actually be a species of Stegosaurus, called Stegosaurus homheni.1

The type specimen of Wuerhosaurus is a partial skeleton stored at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing.1

Wuerhosaurus lived alongside the meat-eating dinosaur Kelmayisaurus and the pterosaur Noripterus.2

Its back vertebrae had deep hollows above the spinal cord, which is different from other stegosaurs.1

Wuerhosaurus was a ground-dwelling herbivore that probably moved on all four legs.5

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

?How big was Wuerhosaurus?

Wuerhosaurus homheni was about 7 metres (23 feet) long and weighed 4 metric tons (4.4 short tons). A smaller species, W. ordosensis, was about 5 metres (16 feet) long and weighed 1.2 metric tons (1.3 short tons).3

?What did Wuerhosaurus eat?

It was a herbivore, meaning it ate plants.4 5

?Where was Wuerhosaurus found?

Fossils have been found in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, China.3 4

?How many species of Wuerhosaurus are there?

There are two known species: Wuerhosaurus homheni and Wuerhosaurus ordosensis.3

?Is Wuerhosaurus the same as Stegosaurus?

Some scientists think Wuerhosaurus might actually be a species of Stegosaurus called Stegosaurus homheni, but other scientists disagree.3

?When did Wuerhosaurus live?

Wuerhosaurus lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 135 to 120 million years ago.3 4

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Myth buster

Myth: Many people think all stegosaurs lived in the Jurassic period.

Truth: Wuerhosaurus lived in the early Cretaceous, much later than most stegosaurs.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Wuerhosaurus
Named by: Dong 19735
Group: Plated dinos
Family / clade: Stegosauridae5
Classification: Ornithischia > Stegosauria > Thyreophora5
Age of the rocks: 137 to 100 million years (Valanginian / Albian)5
Rock formations: Lianmuqin, Ejinhoro5
Countries: China5
Fossil records: 3 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: Wuerhosaurus was discovered in 1964 at a site called Wuerho in Xinjiang, China. Dong Zhiming named it in 1973 based on a partial skeleton.2
Still debated: Scientists debate whether Wuerhosaurus is a separate genus or just a species of Stegosaurus.1

Where the facts come from

PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
PBDB Collection (paleobiodb.org)
Wuerhosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
enchantedlearning.com (enchantedlearning.com)
Wuerhosaurus 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.

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