Ankylosaurus, a heavily armored dinosaur, roamed North America during the Late Cretaceous period (approximately 68 to 66 million years ago). Known for its distinctive bony plates and powerful tail club, understanding its diet offers insight into its lifestyle and the broader prehistoric environment it inhabited.
The Ankylosaurus Diet
Ankylosaurus was a strict herbivore. Its low-slung body allowed it to graze effectively on vegetation growing close to the ground. Paleontologists believe it primarily fed on low-lying plants such as ferns, cycads, and possibly some angiosperms, which are flowering plants.
The dinosaur’s diet was likely non-selective, consuming a variety of available soft plant material such as herbaceous plants, soft mosses, and low shrubs. Estimates suggest an Ankylosaurus would need to consume around 60 kilograms (approximately 130 pounds) of plant matter daily, a quantity comparable to a modern elephant.
Physical Features for Feeding
Ankylosaurus’s anatomy clearly indicated its herbivorous diet. It possessed a broad, shovel-like snout and a beak-like structure at the front of its jaws, effective for cropping large quantities of vegetation. Behind this beak, small, leaf-shaped teeth were suited for stripping leaves and buds from plants, not extensive chewing or grinding.
Ankylosaurs had relatively weak jaws with low mechanical advantage, especially compared to some of their relatives. The presence of large hyoid bones in skeletons suggests a long, flexible tongue, which would have aided in gathering plant material. Its broad body also housed a large digestive system, implying a process of fermentation to break down the considerable amounts of unchewed plant matter it consumed. While direct evidence is rare, some ankylosaurs may have swallowed gastroliths, or stomach stones, to assist in grinding food in their digestive tracts, similar to some modern birds and reptiles.
Uncovering Their Diet: How Scientists Know
Paleontologists determine the diet of extinct animals by analyzing various fossilized remains. The shape and structure of teeth are primary indicators; flat, leaf-shaped teeth typically point to a plant-based diet, distinguishing them from the sharp, serrated teeth of carnivores. The jaw structure and muscle attachment points also provide clues about how an animal processed its food.
Scientists also use comparative anatomy, drawing parallels between dinosaur skeletal features and those of modern animals with known diets. For Ankylosaurus, its dentition and jaw mechanics are compared to present-day herbivorous lizards. Furthermore, the discovery of fossilized plant remains in the same geological layers as Ankylosaurus fossils helps identify potential food sources. While rare, fossilized dung (coprolites) can also reveal direct evidence of consumed plant material.