Dino card No. 0631 of 2,015

Euoplocephalus

Say it: yoo-OP-loh-SEF-uh-lus

Name means: “well-armoured head”1

Ate: PlantsArmoured dinosLate Cretaceous

Euoplocephalus was a tank-like dinosaur covered in bony armour and a heavy club on its tail. It lived in what is now Canada and the USA during the Late Cretaceous period. This slow-moving plant-eater could defend itself from big predators like Albertosaurus.1

Lived

84 to 66 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Alberta, Canada and Montana, USA1 2

Food

Plants1

Length

5.3 m1

Weight

2 tonnes1

Artist's life restoration of Euoplocephalus — How Euoplocephalus may have looked, by Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com). CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Scientists still argue about colours and details.

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

Euoplocephalus had a heavy club at the end of its tail made of bone. It could swing this club to fight off predators.1

Its body was covered in rows of bony plates called scutes. It also had two bone rings around its neck for extra protection.1

Euoplocephalus was about 5.3 metres (17 feet) long and weighed around 2 metric tons (2.2 short tons). That is as heavy as a small car.1

The first fossil was found in 1897 in Alberta, Canada. It was originally named Stereocephalus, but that name was already used for an insect, so it was changed to Euoplocephalus in 1910.1

Euoplocephalus lived between about 76 and 75 million years ago, during the late Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous.1

Scientists once thought many different ankylosaur fossils all belonged to Euoplocephalus, but now they know most are separate species like Scolosaurus and Platypelta.1

Euoplocephalus had a short, drooping snout and a horny beak to bite off plants. Its teeth show it could chew tough plant material.1

Myth buster

Myth: Euoplocephalus could roll into a ball like an armadillo to protect itself.

Truth: Euoplocephalus could not roll into a ball. It relied on its armour and tail club for defence.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Euoplocephalus
Named by: Lambe 19103
Group: Armoured dinos
Family / clade: Ankylosauridae3
Classification: Ornithischia > Ankylosauria > Ankylosauridae > Thyreophora3
Age of the rocks: 84 to 66 million years (Campanian to Maastrichtian)3
Rock formations: Dinosaur Park, Judith River, Two Medicine3
Countries: Canada, USA, China3
Fossil records: 18 in the Paleobiology Database3
Also known as: Stereocephalus (older names now counted as the same animal)3
Discovery: Canadian paleontologist Lawrence Morris Lambe discovered the first Euoplocephalus fossil on 18 August 1897 in what is now Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. He named it Stereocephalus in 1902, but changed the name to Euoplocephalus in 1910 because the old name was already taken.1
Still debated: Scientists still debate exactly which fossils belong to Euoplocephalus and which belong to other closely related ankylosaurs like Anodontosaurus and Scolosaurus.1

Where the facts come from

Euoplocephalus (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Euoplocephalus 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 hello@dinowiki.app and we will fix it.