ExtinctZoo - The Only Dinosaur That T. Rex Was Scared Of

Episode Date: March 27, 2024

The Tyrannosaurus Rex is known as the king of the dinosaurs and ruler of Cretaceous North America. However, there was another king that lived along the Rex, and it was no carnivore, this was the Ankylosaurus

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Fit for your ambition for Citizens Bank. Throughout the reign of the dinosaurs, many iconic animals roam the earth. And perhaps none were as famous as the Tyrannosaurus Rex, which lived during the end of the Cretaceous. Currently, it is believed to be not only the largest theropod ever, but also the biggest known land carnivore period. As a result, nearly nothing it lived alongside was safe, and through the years numerous coexisting animals, including the well-equipped triceratops, bulky hadrosaurs, and titanic sauropods have been found with damage believed to have come from a T-Rex. Still, despite its clear ability to tackle a wide range of prey, there is one dinosaur that has yet to have been found with T-Rex bite marks, leading to the idea that not even the T-Rex dared

to attack this creature. This was the Ankylosaurus. Thanks to its menacing appearance and various portrayals in media, the Ankylosaurus has been well known since its discovery back in the early 1900s. When a mix of bones, teeth, and osteoderms were located in the famous Hell Creek formation of Montana in the U.S. The holotype is believed to have been an adult and shocked paleontologists due to its apparent extensive armoring, which quickly prompted its founder to name it the Ankyllosaurus, meaning the fused lizard. This type specimen was also given the scientific name, Magnaventris, meaning great belly. reference to its widened midsection which gave it quite the unusual appearance.

In fact, the Ankylosaurus was so distinct and different from previously found dinosaurs that paleontologists decided that they needed to create an entirely new group for it, which they promptly named after it. The Enkylosauria. This group of animals is defined as herbivorous dinosaurs of the clade Ornithicia, who possessed small and large bony shields that were fused together, completely covering their back and sides. Within this group, the Ankylosaurus belonged to the Enkylosauridae, whose members were further characterized by massive triangular skulls, short necks, stiff backs, broad bodies, and osteoderms. In addition to being the first of its kind to be discovered, the Enkylosaurus has remained significant in that it's also the largest known Enkylosaur thus far,

with adults measuring anywhere from 5.4 meters or 17 feet to 10 meters or 33 feet, while standing 1.7 meters or 5 feet 7 inches at the hips. On top of this, adults could weigh between 5 and 8 tons, making it heavier than the giant triceratops that lived alongside it, and even comparable to the earlier spinosaurus. This fact often confuses people as to the naked eye, both the triceratops and spinosaurus appear to be much larger than the anchylosaurus, leading to the question of why was it so heavy, despite not necessarily being very long or tall?

And the answer is quite simple. It's because of its extremely robust body. The anchylosaurus was constructed like a living tank, possessing short, broad and compressed bones that gave it a good basis for defense, which was increased tenfold by the presence of bony armor that covered over half of its body. This armor added a lot of weight to the enchalosaurus and was composed of knobs and plates of bones referred to as osteoderms. These bony structures would have been embedded within its skin and covered its body from snout to tail, varying in size depending on their placement. However, so far no specimen has been found with its armor in place, meaning that palaeontor. are not exactly sure how the plates were arranged.

Yet, most agree that the larger plates would have likely been concentrated near vulnerable areas like the neck, thus granting it the highest level of possible protection. Additionally, it's not quite understood how many osteoderms there were in total, with estimates varying from 30 to well over 100. Though, what paleontologists do know is that the Ankylosaurus possessed very unique and special armored plates, that differed from those seen in other ankylosaurus. Specifically, its osteoderms were thinner than most and had a hollowed underside.

And while this may sound worse compared to solid and thicker armor, it actually benefited the anchylosaurus as it granted a higher level of flexibility and made it more resistant to crushing bites, like those seen in the T-Rex, as the hollowed construction created a dome-like shape which added strength and allowed the anchylosaurus to endure higherlysmes,

levels of pressure without having the osteoderms shatter. On top of this, the ankylosaurus had yet another defense boost, this time through collagen fibers that were randomly placed beneath its armor. These fibers were much thicker than the collagen fibers seen in armored living animals today, like the crocodile and armadillo, and helped the ankylosaurus with force distribution, shock absorption, ligament and muscle attachment, and even growth and repair. All in all, these fibers, coupled with its osteoderms, made the Enkylosaurus one of, if not the toughest animal round in Cretaceous North America, with studies fighting its armor to have been strong enough to even withstand small gunfire. And along with this impenetrable armor, the Ankylosaurus had yet another tool or weapon up its sleeve that made it one tough beast, and that is its legendary tail club.

Like the bony plates that made up its defense, the Enchylosaurus tail club was made of osteoderms as well, specifically two large ones plus two small osteoderms at the tip and a row of smaller ones at the midline. Recovered specimens show that this club could reach 57 centimeters or 22.5 inches in width, and weighed around 50 pounds or 23 kilos. This gave it some weight, but still kept it light enough for the Enkylosaurus to easily wield, which was further helped by the presence of large tail muscles and ossified tendons, suggesting it could swing its tail with immense speed, generating catastrophic amounts of force.

In fact, a recent study found that large individuals could impact targets with over 20,000 newtons of force, which is more than enough to break bone. while another test found that a swung with an impulse of up to 4,800 newtons per second. In comparison, a professional baseball player only swings at 13 newtons per second, making the tail strike 370 times more powerful. This clearly shows it was a potent weapon, but for a long time, nobody could agree on who the victim of this weapon was. And this is still an ongoing debate, actually, as no thing.

Theropod or Predator has been found with damaged bones linked to club strikes, leading to the question of if the club was even evolved for defense against predators to begin with. And to add to this debate, a type of small Enkylosaur, known as Zool, is documented to have hit others of its own genus during fights that were likely for social dominance, leading to the new idea that Ankylosaur clubs were designed primarily for each other. However, most of the still believe that the Ankylosaurus would have utilized its club for defense against the T-Rex from time to time. As reconstructions show, it had quite a wide striking range for objects behind it, which is where a T-Rex may first appear during an ambush. Additionally, other indirect

evidence also supports this conjecture, one being that the closest related group to the Enkilosauria, the Stegasors, had similar weapons which are known to have been used on theropods, demonstrated by one example of a stegosaurus that had impaled an allosaurus in a unfortunate area. Furthermore, several animals alive today are known to have used similar structures against predators, despite their primary use being for something unrelated. One such example being deer antlers. All this points to the idea that the ankylosaurus could and would use its tail club against attackers if needed. And this, coupled with its size and armor, made large adults nearly impossible prey for the T-Rex, not even to mention other predators,

such as the Dromasaurus, and pterosaurs. Unfortunately, however, juveniles were not as well defended, and were likely targets for predators, as young specimens have shown that during adolescence, the armor and tail clubs were not fully formed. This meant, that for a period of time, juveniles could neither break bone with their clubs, nor stop large attacks with their armor. Yet to make up for this, Ankylosaurs would congregate when young to establish a heightened level of defense. These groups would help decrease the chance of any one individual being singled out,

though they may not have deterred a fully matured T-Rex. However, once they reached adulthood, this totally changed, as despite the common belief, Enchylosaurs were likely lone roamers as adults, with their armor and club alone providing more than enough security. And since they did not wander in herds, the Enkylosaurus was not an ecosystem engineer, as originally thought. Meaning that unlike hydrosaurus and living elephants,

that change landscapes as they passed through eating vegetation, the Enkylosaurs likely did not have the same effect. This isn't to say, however, that the Enkylosaurus was a small-time eater, as it did have a ferocious appetite despite preferring greens. Its low-down body and wide muzzle implies that it fed on the abundant ferns and low-growing shrubs of the time. These food items weren't the most calorically dense, resulting in an adult needing to eat 60 kilograms or 130 pounds of food each day, which is similar to the amount eaten by large elephants. This number may have been smaller if the Enkylosaurus ate fruit

or certain invertebrates that got caught in the vegetation. Regardless, it's clear that it ate a large amount of food. Which meant it also needed a good way to process such copious amounts of food. And the first way and tool it used, or its teeth. Its teeth were cusp-like and had interesting protrusions throughout, which helped cut vegetation matter into small pieces. It also had a narrow beak that easily stripped leaves off of vegetation. And once inside its body, the Enchalosaurus had yet another unique characteristic that aided in consumption.

Its digestive tract, which is believed to have operated through hind gut fermentation. This process uses the aid of symbiotic bacteria to break down food and is seen in many large herbivorous animals today. One example being the rhino. Such fermentation requires large vats, so to speak, which usually come in the form of widened abdomens, and thus the broad midsection of the Enchylosaurus is believed to aben its fermentation vat. This digestion technique may have granted an edge over other herbivores, which was only helped

by its smelling capabilities. The structure of its nasal passages and the large size of its olfactory bulge, suggests that I had an exceptional sense of smell that could tell the anchylosaurus if food was rotten, ripe, or hidden beneath a thick layer of vegetation. Additionally, its sense of smell was likely its main way of detecting nearby predators as well, as while it did have stereoscopic vision, its eyesight wasn't the greatest. And another area of the anchylosaurus that wasn't the most refined was at speed, as its bulky size likely resulted in it, being slow moving, probably no faster than a walking human, with quick bursts only being

possible during dire times. Though, thanks to all of its defenses, the Enkylosaurus simply did not have to be fast in order to be successful and widespread, with fossil discoveries showing that it resided in northwestern America and Alberta, Canada. Within these lands, it preferred forested floodplains with relatively subtropical climates. areas were absolutely filled with life, like the famed Hell Creek Formation. Thus, the Enkylosaurus lived alongside many well-known dinosaurs, which along with the T-Rex, included Denver Soros, Draco Rex, Pachycephalosaurus, Plateotholis, Sphaeotholus, Sphairotholus,

Stygomolic, Taurosaurus, Triceratops, Tantoceratops, Tantacacarotops, Tantacarot Edmontosaurus, Theselosaurus, Ornithomimus, Trier Arcuncus, Nanotyrimimus, Arctur, Anzu, Acheropraptor, Avisaurus, Dakota Raptor, Trudontids, and birds. Non-dinosaurs were also found in these lands and included insects, mollisks, frogs, salamanders, bony fish, cardilaginous fish, a mix of pterosaurs, turtles, lizards, snakes, champsosaurus, crocodilomorphs like the borealisuccus, and brachy camsum. Plus, mammals too came in the form of simulomis, simulodon, symexamus, esonon, moniscoesosososidma, Stygimus, Peresidon, Alphidon, Didelphidon, Leptes, Nanocurus, Protalphodon, Alticreotus, and Purgatorious.

This extreme level of diversity was enabled by the presence of large river systems that supported an abundance of angiosperms, conifers, ferns, moss, shrubs, and vines. Studies on the formation sediment also show that monsoons, tropical storms, and occasional forest fires kept the ecosystem quite lively. And for the Enkylosaurus, the richness of these areas allowed it to thrive from 68 to 66 million years ago. Although paleontologists have noted that it wasn't the most populous animal around, with only 1% of finds in Hell Creek being Enkylosaurus. This meant it probably didn't have as many offspring, and again implies that it was not a social creature. Its lower numbers may have also played a small role in its demise during the KT extinction event. And its slower nature could have contributed to a rapid ending as well,

with its home being susceptible to rapid moving fires from the asteroid impact, which was ultimately the only thing that could have ended, this tank of a dinosaur. San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th, and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th. Tickets on sale now at yamava Theater.com, only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary.

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