Dino card No. 1429 of 2,027

Pinacosaurus

Say it: pin-ak-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “plank lizard”1

Ate: PlantsArmoured dinosLate Cretaceous

Pinacosaurus was an armoured dinosaur that looked like a living tank. It had bony plates on its head and a heavy club at the end of its tail to fight off predators. Many young Pinacosaurus fossils have been found huddled together, probably killed by a sandstorm.1

Lived

90 to 72 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Mongolia and China2 1

Food

Plants1

Length

5 m2

Weight

1 tonnes to 1.9 tonnes2 1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 3 bicycles in a rowas long as 28 bananas end to endas heavy as 63 big dogsas heavy as 380 watermelons

How big was Pinacosaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

At least 24 Pinacosaurus skeletons have been found, more than for any other ankylosaur.1

Most Pinacosaurus fossils are from juveniles, and adults have never been found in groups.1

Each nostril of Pinacosaurus was a large depression with three to five smaller holes, and scientists are not sure what they were for.1

Pinacosaurus had a tail club made of bone, which it probably used to defend itself against predators.1

A juvenile Pinacosaurus fossil shows large tongue bones, suggesting it had a strong, muscular tongue to help gather food.1

The first Pinacosaurus fossils were found in 1923 by Walter W. Granger at the Flaming Cliffs in Mongolia.1

Pinacosaurus lived during the Late Cretaceous, about 81 to 75 million years ago.2

AI-made picture of Pinacosaurus — An AI-made picture of how Pinacosaurus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Pinacosaurus

?How big was Pinacosaurus?

Pinacosaurus was about 5 metres (16 feet) long and weighed up to 1.9 metric tons (2.1 short tons).1 2

?What did Pinacosaurus eat?

Pinacosaurus was a herbivore that ate low-growing plants. It used a smooth beak to bite off plants and small teeth to slice them, then swallowed them to be processed by its large hind gut.1 2

?Did Pinacosaurus have a tail club?

Yes, Pinacosaurus had a bony club at the end of its tail. It likely used this club as a defensive weapon against predators.1 2

?Where was Pinacosaurus found?

Pinacosaurus fossils have been found in Mongolia and China, including the Flaming Cliffs in the Gobi Desert and the Bayan Mandahu Formation in Inner Mongolia.1 2

?When did Pinacosaurus live?

Pinacosaurus lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 81 to 71 million years ago.1 2

?Why did Pinacosaurus have holes in its nostrils?

Each nostril of Pinacosaurus was a large depression with three to five smaller holes. Scientists are not sure what they were for, but they might have been connected to air passages or cartilage.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Pinacosaurus
Named by: Gilmore 19333
Group: Armoured dinos
Family / clade: Ankylosauridae3
Classification: Ornithischia > Ankylosauria > Ankylosauridae > Thyreophora3
Age of the rocks: 90 to 72 million years (Coniacian / Campanian)3
Rock formations: Djadokhta, Bayan Mandahu, Baruungoyot3
Countries: Mongolia, China3
Fossil records: 24 in the Paleobiology Database3
Also known as: Syrmosaurus (older names now counted as the same animal)3
Discovery: Pinacosaurus was named by Charles Whitney Gilmore in 1933, based on fossils found in 1923 by Walter W. Granger in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia.1
Still debated: Scientists are still unsure why the nostrils of Pinacosaurus had several small holes instead of one large opening.1

Where the facts come from

Pinacosaurus - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
Pinacosaurus | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Pinacosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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