#ankylosaurid

[dynasoar5]

self portrait wearing lastico, 2026

[strangerswarehouse]

Vectipelta head study

Practicing dinosaur anatomy and textures yep

[randomanimaloftheday]

Day 142#: Tsagantegia longicranialis

Today's animal of the day is Tsagantegia longicranialis!

Image credit: Jack Wood

This species of medium-sized ankylosaurid dinosaur lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Mongolia. It was discovered in 1983 by a team of Mongolian and Soviet paleontologists, who found the fossilized skull of this animal near the town of Dzun-Bayan. To this day, this skull remains the only specimen of Tsagantegia known to scientists. Its genus was named after the Tsagan-Teg (or White Mountain) where it was discovered, and its species name (longicranialis) means "long skull" due to its elongated snout, which sets it apart from other ankylosaurs.

Image credit: cisiopurple on DeviantArt

Tsagantegia is estimated to have been between 20 and 23 ft long and weigh about 1 to 4 tons! In addition to its elongated snout, Tsagantegia also had rather amorphously-shaped flattened head spikes, which is unique compared to the other Asian ankylosaurs since their head spikes often resembled a mosaic of polygons. This would have given Tsagantegia a distinct appearance, which would help it to better identify members of its own species from the other ankylosaurs it shared its habitat with.

Image credit: Jed Taylor / Talarurus (left) Tsagantegia (right)

Speaking of habitat, Tsagantegia would have lived in a semi-arid environment, though the types of sediments found in the area suggest that there were also several large lakes and rivers nearby, which would have provided Tsagantegia and many other prehistoric animals with both food and water. Though the fossilized skull found is missing all of its teeth, paleontologists suspect that Tsagantegia's elongated snout suggests that it was a browser that fed on leaves and branches from shrubs, bushes, and small trees. This unique skull shape would have allowed Tsagantegia to avoid competition with the other ankylosaurids it lived alongside, like Talarurus, which has a shorter shovel-shaped snout and likely grazed on various ground plants (but not grass since that hadn't evolved yet).

[neko-chan-13]

Together Forever

Digital drawing, 2025

I guess, let me know if you’d like to buy a print? I can probably arrange something!

Original fossil under the cut!

[paleoanime]

Rupodosaurus clava Copyright by Sydney Mohr

Scientists have found the first identified ankylosaurid tracks dating around 94-100 million years ago, belonging to the Ruopodosaurus clava, a species of ankylosaurid from North America. This is significant because before the Late Cretaceous ankylosaurids weren't thought to have lived in North America, with this new finding demonstrating otherwise.

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5/14/25 - Paleoanime

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dinovember day 30: ankylosaurus (jawbreaker)

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Dinosaur Bus