What it looked like
Ankylosaurus was a huge armored dinosaur, that was the size and shape of an army tank. It weighed about 5 tons. Its entire top was heavily protected from carnivores with thick, oval plates growing in its leathery skin. Two rows of spikes stuck out along its body, and large horns came out from the back of the head. It even had bony plates as protection for its eyes. Only its under-belly was unplated.

Ankylosaurus had four short legs (the rear legs were larger than the front legs), a short neck, and a wide skull with a tiny brain.

What it ate
This huge and heavy reptile was an herbivore (which means it ate only plants). It had to eat a huge amount of low-growing plants to keep alive, so its gut must have been very large. Scientists think that it probably produced a lot of gas from digesting the tough plant material it ate!

How it moved around
From looking at fossilised footprints, scientists think that the Ankylosaurus could move along at a fair jogging pace.

How it probably behaved
The Ankylosaurus was not very clever, because it had a very small brain. Flipping it over was the only way to wound it, because of all the bony plates and spikes on its back. Its long tail had a big lump of bone at the end, and it could swing this from side to side to hit any animal that was attacking it.

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