Name:
Gargoyleosaurus (Greek for "gargoyle lizard"); pronounced GAR-goil-oh-SORE-us
Habitat:
Woodlands of North America
Historical Period:
Late Jurassic (155-145 million years ago)
Size and Weight:
About 10 feet long and one ton
Diet:
Plants
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Ground-hugging build; bony plates on back
About Gargoyleosaurus:
As the earliest steel-plated wagon was to a Sherman tank, so Gargoyleosaurus was to the later Ankylosaurus--a distant ancestor that began experimenting with body armor in the late Jurassic, tens of millions of years before its more famous descendant.
As far as paleontologists can tell, Gargoyleosaurus was the first true ankylosaur, a type of dinosaur typified by its squat, ground-hugging build and plated armor. The whole point of ankylosaurs, of course, was to present as unappetizing a meal as possible to ravenous predators--who had to flip these plant-eaters on their backs if they wanted to inflict a mortal wound.
