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DinoFan83 · 04-25-2021, 12:23 AM

Euoplocephalus (meaning 'well armored head', in reference to its heavily armored skull) is a genus of very large, herbivorous or omnivorous ankylosaurian dinosaurs, living during the Late Cretaceous of Canada. It has only one named species, Euoplocephalus tutus.
The first fossil of Euoplocephalus was found in 1897 in Alberta. In 1902, it was named Stereocephalus, but that name had already been given to an insect, so it was changed in 1910. Later, many more ankylosaurid remains were found from the Campanian of North America and often made separate genera. In 1971, Walter Coombs concluded that they all belonged to Euoplocephalus which then would be one of the best-known dinosaurs. Recently however, experts have come to the opposite conclusion, limiting the authentic finds of Euoplocephalus to about a dozen specimens. Many are almost complete skeletons, so much is nevertheless known about the build of the animal.
Some of these specimens have been estimated at 5 meters long and 2300 kg by Gregory S. Paul. Its body was low-slung and very flat and wide, standing on four sturdy legs. Its head had a short drooping snout with a horny beak to bite off plants (and probably small or dead animals as well) that were digested in the large gut. Like other ankylosaurids, Euoplocephalus was largely covered by bony armor plates, among them rows of large high-ridged oval scutes. The neck was protected by two bone rings. It could also actively defend itself against predators like Gorgosaurus using a heavy club at the end of its tail, being able to produce forces easily strong enough to shatter bone.

DinoFan83 · 04-25-2021, 12:44 AM

Euoplocephalus skeletal by Scott Hartman.