Euplocephalus

Whereas Ankylosaurus is the most famous ankylosaurid dinosaur,‭ ‬Euoplocephalus is one of the most important because of the huge number of remains that have been attributed to the genus.‭ ‬These include remains of over forty individual Euoplocephalus,‭ ‬comprising fifteen known skulls and some post cranial skeletons that are almost complete.‭ ‬This wealth of material has not only helped to increase our understanding of Euoplocephalus and the Ankylosauridae as a group,‭ ‬but has also revealed avenues of research that were not previously considered by palaeontologists. 
      The skull is probably the single most studied area of Euoplocephalus,‭ ‬and is wider than it‭ ‬is‭ ‬long in form.‭ ‬This gives Euoplocephalus a very broad cropping mouth similar to other ankylosaurids,‭ ‬but different to the nodasaurids like Edmontonia and Nodosaurus which had narrow mouths.‭ ‬This meant that Euoplocephalus was a more generalist browser of low vegetation,‭ ‬and possibly had a more advanced or larger digestive system to cope with digesting a greater variety of plants.‭ ‬The teeth inside the mouth of Euoplocephalus are small,‭ ‬and like other ankylosaurids are more suitable for chopping Along with a presence of a hard palate that would allow Euoplocephalus to breathe while it had food in its mouth,‭ ‬it probably spent some time processing food with up and down movements of its mouth before swallowing.‭ ‬This processing in itself would allow ankylosaurids like Euoplocephalus to‭ ‬obtain more nutrition from their food regardless of if they had a more developed digestive system.
Category:Dinosaurs
Category:Montana Animals
Category:Canadian Animals
Category:Extinct Animals
Category:Cretaceous Animals