ANKYLOSAURS: THE LAST OF THE NON-AVIAN DINOSAURS

Ankylosaur — Armoured Plant-Eating Dinosaur

Ankylosaurs were armoured dinosaurs. We find their fossil remains in Cretaceous outcrops in western North America. They were amongst the last of the non-avian dinosaurs.

These sturdy fellows ambled along like little tanks all covered in spiky armour. They munched on foliage and were the original lawn mowers — 68 - 66 million years ago.

They reached about 1.7 m in height and weighed in at 4,800 – 8,000 kg. You can see the club at the end of their tail that they used to defend against predators. It would have packed quite the wallop.

The lovely illustration you see here is by the supremely talented Daniel Eskridge, shared with permission. You can see more of his work at www.fineartbydaniel.com

WOLVERINE RIVER DINOSAUR TRACKS

Jen Becker, British Columbia Paleontological Alliance Field Trip

In the summer of 2005, I joined Jen Becker, and fellow delegates from the British Columbia Paleontological Symposium for an impromptu late-night tour of Wolverine River, one of many prolific research sites of Lisa Buckley, a vertebrate paleontologist working in the Tumbler Ridge area of British Columbia.

There are two types of footprints at the Wolverine River Trackside –theropods (at least four different sizes) and ankylosaurs. The prints featured in this photo were laid down by some lumbering ankylosaurs out for a stroll in soft mud. Many of the prints are so shallow that they can only be recognized by the skin impressions pressed into the mud. We'd been up to the fossil sites in the day but wanted to come back in the evening to see them by lamplight. After a lovely dinner, we hiked up to Wolverine in the dark. We filled the tracks with water and lit them with warm yellow lamplight. Some clever soul brought a sound system and played spooky animal calls to add prehistoric ambiance. A truly amazing evening.

LAMPLIT DINOSAUR TRACKS

Ankylosaur Trackway / Tumbler Ridge

A detailed view of the Dinosaur Trackway near Wolverine River, Tumbler Ridge, northeastern British Columbia.

The tracks are filled with water to reflect the lamplight, making them both beautiful and easier to view.

There are three types of footprints found in the Tumbler Ridge GeoPark. At the Wolverine River Tracksite there are theropods (at least four different sizes) and ankylosaurs. Also found in the area are ornithopod tracks from herbivorous dinosaurs with their nice wide tracks. You'll recognize them by their short-wide prints with three blunt toes. There are rare wee hand prints associated with some of those tracks if you look closely.

ANKYLOSAUR TRACKWAY

Fossil Field Trip / Ankylosaur Trackway

After an exciting hike in the dark through the woods and down a steep incline, we reached the river. The tracks in this photo are from a type of armoured dinosaur that dates from around 97 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous.

Imagine a meandering armoured tank munching on ferns, shrubs and low-growing vegetation as the grasses we picture in fields today had yet to evolve en masse. Their time would come about 30 million years later. We've found grass-like phytoliths (related to modern rice and bamboo) in the poop (coprolites) from Cretaceous dinosaurs.

There are three types of footprints at the Wolverine River site, the meat-eating theropods (at least four different sizes), the slow, lumbering plant-eating ankylosaurs and duck-billed dinosaurs. Bones from an Acrocanthosaurus, a meat-eating theropod have also been found in the area. These bad boys lived in the Aptian, in the Early Cretaceous and known from a single species, A. atokensis.

The trackway you see here was made by one of those armoured lumbering ankylosaurs and a few of the prints carry skin impressions. Filling the prints with water and using lamplight was genius for viewing tracks as they are all but invisible in the bright sunlight by day.

DISCOVERY: ANKYLOSAUR TRACK