Ankylosaurus

In comparison with modern land animals the adult Ankylosaurus was very large. Some scientists have estimated a length of 30 ft. Another reconstruction suggests a significantly smaller size, at 20.5 ft long, up to 5 ft wide and about 5.5 ft high at the hip. Ankylosaurus may have weighed over 13,000 lb. The body shape was low-slung and quite wide. Ankylosaurus was quadripedal, with the hind limbs longer than the forelimbs. Although its feet are still unknown, comparisons with other ankylosaurids suggest Ankylosaurus probably had five toes on each foot. The skull was low and triangular in shape, wider than it was long. The largest known skull measures 25 in long and 29 in wide. Like other ankylosaurs, Ankylosaurus was plant eater, with small, leaf-shaped teeth suitable for cropping vegetation. These teeth were smaller, relative to the body size, than in any other ankylosaurid species. undefined Ankylosaurus did not share the grinding tooth batteries of the contemporaneous ceratopsid and hadrosaurid dinosaurs, indicating that very little chewing occurred. Bones in the skull and other parts of the body were fused, increasing their strength