1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:11,080 Speaker 1: Stuff Lauren Bogelbaum here, it's hard to read anything about 3 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: dinosaurs without bringing along preconceived notions of what the creatures 4 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:17,919 Speaker 1: might have looked or acted like. Most people have either 5 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: read books as children or watched television or movies that 6 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 1: depicted dinosaurs as massive and monstrous creatures seeking to destroy 7 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: or devour anything in their path. Some of those animals, 8 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:33,479 Speaker 1: like Tyrannosaurus, were huge predators, but not all dinosaurs fit 9 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: that bill. Enter the anchylosaur. This four legged dino was 10 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:43,200 Speaker 1: certainly big. The largest anchylosaurus ever found was over twenty 11 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:46,159 Speaker 1: ft or six meters long and weighed around four tons. 12 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:50,360 Speaker 1: But and Kylosaurus was an herbivore plant eating tank of 13 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: an animal, and we do mean tank. The Ankylosaurus was 14 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 1: covered with thick bony plates, a defense that came in 15 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: handy for this hefty herbivore and lented name and Kylosaurus 16 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: means fused lizard in Greek. The bony plates were fused 17 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:08,840 Speaker 1: to the dinosaurs skull and other body parts, making it 18 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 1: extremely sturdy. We spoke via email with Dr Hans Seuss, 19 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:16,680 Speaker 1: the senior research geologist and curator of Fossil Vertebrates in 20 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:20,639 Speaker 1: the Department of Paleobiology at the Smithsonian Institutions National Museum 21 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: of Natural History in Washington, d C. He said the 22 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: first line of defense was their outer armor, composed of 23 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:31,120 Speaker 1: bony plates. In fact, and kylosaurs were so heavily armored 24 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:34,200 Speaker 1: that even their upper eyelid was protected by a bony plate. 25 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:37,680 Speaker 1: One group of encylosaurs had massive clubs of bone at 26 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:39,759 Speaker 1: the end of their tails, and they could swing their 27 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:42,240 Speaker 1: tails to inflict massive damage on the legs of an 28 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: attacking predator. The Nkylosaurus's body was thick and squat, its 29 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 1: legs sturdy. It had a broad, triangular shaped skull, but 30 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 1: it was the armor that made the difference. Hard plates 31 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: covered with bony spikes jutting from its flanks and bony 32 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:02,040 Speaker 1: knobs called osteoderms or scutes retreating from its back. Horn 33 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: proturbances stood out above each eye and on the sides 34 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,920 Speaker 1: of the face. Not all in kylosaurs had the same 35 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: armor patterning, but all had armor to protect them from predators, 36 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:16,520 Speaker 1: most notably Tyrannosaurus and the like. And kylosaurs needed that 37 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: protection because they spent most of the day eating massive 38 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:23,320 Speaker 1: amounts of food, stripping leaves from low lying plants. Sus 39 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: said they have small teeth similar to those of present 40 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 1: day plant eating lizards. An amazing discovery of a nearly 41 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,800 Speaker 1: perfect ankylosaur skeleton from Alberta in Canada preserved gut contents 42 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: that confirmed that ankylosaurs ate plants. However, Sus also shared 43 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: a startling discovery. He said one small boned anchylosaur recently 44 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:46,760 Speaker 1: discovered in northern China apparently went into lakes and even 45 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:51,359 Speaker 1: ate small fish. The first ankylosaur fossil was discovered by 46 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 1: barn and Brown and the Hell Creek Formation in Montana 47 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: in nineteen o six, but in kylosaurs have been found 48 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:01,239 Speaker 1: in many places throughout the world, including Europe, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, 49 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: and North and South America. SEUs said. In fact, one 50 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: of the first dinosaurs ever to be discovered was it 51 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: anchylosaur from southern England, discovered in eighteen thirty one, and 52 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: kylosaurs had a complex nasal system that included a large 53 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: cavity volume for the region of the brain that handles 54 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:22,040 Speaker 1: the sense of smell. Study in the Journal of Anatomy 55 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,160 Speaker 1: suggested that ankylosaurs may have had a highly developed sense 56 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: of smell in order to find food and avoid predators. 57 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: We don't know whether or not in kylosaurs were social 58 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:35,840 Speaker 1: as adults, so whether they moved in herds. According to SEUs, 59 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: there's simply no evidence one way or the other. Though 60 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: he said that a group of very young and kylosaurs 61 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:45,160 Speaker 1: were discovered in the Gobi Desert, and though in Kylosaur's 62 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:47,640 Speaker 1: armor and body type might bring to mind thoughts of 63 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 1: alligators and crocodiles, SEUs says they're not related. Birds are 64 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:56,640 Speaker 1: still the closest living relatives of all dinosaurs. Interestingly, and 65 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 1: Kylosaurus was estimated to have lived between sixty six point 66 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: eight million to sixty five point five million years ago 67 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: in North America during the Late Cretaceous period, which means 68 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 1: and kylosaurs were among the last dinosaurs roaming the earth. 69 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 1: According to the U S Geological Survey, denosaurs went extinct 70 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 1: about sixty five billion years ago at the end of 71 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 1: the Cretaceous period. One fascinating and kylosaur discovery in in 72 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:25,360 Speaker 1: Montana's Judith River Formation, for a striking and spiky resemblance 73 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: to the mythical monster zul from the movie Ghostbusters. You 74 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 1: know there is no data, only zul the terror dogs 75 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:35,360 Speaker 1: that Dana and Lewis turn into. The paleontologists who made 76 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:37,919 Speaker 1: the discovery were so struck by the similarity between the 77 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:40,599 Speaker 1: recovered skull and the movie monster that they named the 78 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:45,159 Speaker 1: specimen zul care vastatur, which means destroyer of shins in 79 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:49,159 Speaker 1: Latin and refers to then kylosaurs club like leg crushing tail. 80 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:56,920 Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Patty Rescus and produced by 81 00:04:56,920 --> 00:04:59,040 Speaker 1: Tyler Klang. For more in this and lots of other 82 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:01,839 Speaker 1: topics that were very big and Samaria, visit how stuff 83 00:05:01,839 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 1: works dot com. Brain Stuff is a production of I 84 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:06,760 Speaker 1: heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the 85 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,479 Speaker 1: iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 86 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.