Armored Dinosaur

Armored Dinosaur

Diet : Herbivorous

Habitat : Forest areas, often near river channels

Length : 10-13 ft. (3-4 m)

Weight : 660-880 lb (300-400 kg)

Deltapodus means delta-shaped track. The footprint type called Deltapodus was probably made by one of the plated (stegosaurid) or armored (ankylosaurid) dinosaurs. When first described from the Middle Jurassic of England and named Deltapodus the track maker was uncertain. Since then Deltapodus has been found in the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks around the World and most authors attributed it to plated stegosaurids. However, the typical Deltapodus configuration of pedal toe sizes with the outer toe largest evidently miss the stegosaurian foot pattern where the middle and inner toes are longest. Thus, Deltapodus may have been made rather by the armored ankylosaurians, the three-toed species not those common ones which were four-toed. In Utah and in Moab area, Deltapodus is found in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation.

Gargoyleosaurus means lizard – gargoyle (a gargoyle is often used as a decorative end of a gutter presented mostly as the head of a dragon). This ankylosaurid dinosaur from Late Jurassic of the U.S.A. had a fully armored body. There were numerous, massive bony plates on its back and a large bone plate which protected the hip region. It also had dangerous, huge elongated conical spines which were curved backwards, as well as two pairs of spines on its head. The rest of its armor was completed with smaller plates. During its life the head was equipped with a horned beak. The original discovery as well as a reconstructed skeleton of Gargoyleosaurus parkpinorum are in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Colorado (USA).