What was dinosaur armor used for? New fossils help scientists find out!
Above: The immaculately preserved Borealopelta fossil!
Post author - Ellis Nolan
While teeth and claws are usually the show-stoppers when it comes to fossils, of equal interest to scientists are plates, clubs, and spikes. While originally thought to have been developed by herbivorous dinosaurs to defend against their carnivorous counterparts, newly discovered specimens are leading researchers to draw new conclusions about the purpose of dinosaur armor.
Two recent discoveries prompted scientists to reconsider the role of armor for herbivorous dinosaurs. Both fossils were large, armored, herbivorous dinosaurs, and were found in Canada. Most notably, though, both of these fossils have large portions of their bodily tissue still intact. The first, discovered in 2011, is named Borealopelta, and consists of the ankylosaurid’s head, as well as most of its armored neck and back. The other fossil, named Zuul after the character from Ghostbusters, contains the dinosaur’s club-tail and horned head. What is particularly striking (pun intended) about Zuul is that scientists believe its tail was struck at one point by another Zuul!
Before the discovery of these fossils, the consensus on dinosaur defenses was that their horns, osteoderms (a fancy word for armored skin), clubs and tail spikes were mostly made up of bone, but protected by a thin layer of keratin, the material that makes up humans’ hair and nails, and in animals, hooves and horns. This was because keratin is usually not preserved when a dinosaur becomes fossilized. However, upon analysis of Borealopelta, the researchers discovered the preserved keratin in the fossil increased the armor plates’ sizes by up to 40%, much more than previously imagined.
The researchers quickly realized these extra massive spikes and horns would be much more than necessary to combat a predator, so what were they used for? One theory: to fight other dinosaurs of the same species! One researcher imagines these dinosaurs’ defensive features as analogous to the horns of a mountain goat: rarely used for defense, mostly for fighting over mates and territory.
With this new research, updated visualizations have been created to account for the larger armor sizes, changing our previous understanding of these herbivores. Our picture of the age of dinosaurs is constantly evolving and there is always more to learn about the lives of such fascinating creatures.
You can have your own fossilized piece of an Ankylosaurus's fascinating armor! It is an amazing example of the evolving image of these creatures. Click here to learn more!
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