Panoplosaurus Facts
| Diet | Herbivore |
| Height | 1.5m |
| Length | 5m |
| Weight | 1.6 tonnes |
| Environment | Land |
| Era | Cretaceous |
| Period | Late Cretaceous |
| Type | Ankylosaur |
| Location | Canada |

| Diet | Herbivore |
| Height | 1.5m |
| Length | 5m |
| Weight | 1.6 tonnes |
| Environment | Land |
| Era | Cretaceous |
| Period | Late Cretaceous |
| Type | Ankylosaur |
| Location | Canada |
Panoplosaurus was a heavily armoured ankylosaur that lived around 76 to 75 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Alberta, Canada. This impressive herbivore measured approximately 5 metres in length and weighed around 1.6 tonnes, making it a substantial presence in the ancient landscapes of the Dinosaur Park Formation.
What made Panoplosaurus truly remarkable was its extensive body armour. Almost its entire surface was covered in protective plates, osteoderms, and scutes of varying sizes. The skull featured a distinctive domed surface with lumpy osteoderms, whilst bony plates directly covered its cheeks. Around its neck, circular groups of plates were arranged in a protective pattern, and regularly shaped plates without prominent spines covered its body - a feature that distinguished it from some of its more spike-covered relatives.
As a quadrupedal herbivore, Panoplosaurus had forelimbs and hindlimbs of roughly equal length, giving it a stable, low-slung build perfect for ground-level browsing. Its skull had a short snout, well-suited for cropping vegetation close to the ground. The animal's hands may have had only three fingers, and even the spaces between larger armoured plates were filled with smaller ossicles, creating an almost impenetrable defensive covering.
Despite being well-documented, Panoplosaurus remains known from relatively few specimens, all discovered in the middle Campanian rocks of Alberta. Its classification has at times been complicated by confusion with related ankylosaurs, but it stands as a distinct example of Late Cretaceous armoured dinosaur evolution.
Panoplosaurus had a distinctively domed skull covered in lumpy osteoderms, with bony plates directly covering its cheeks. Its body armour consisted of regularly shaped plates without prominent spines, and circular groups of protective plates around its neck, creating an almost completely armoured exterior.
Panoplosaurus was likely a slow-moving browser that fed on low-growing plants, using its short snout to crop vegetation. When threatened, it probably relied on its extensive armour plating for protection, potentially crouching down to protect its less-armoured underside whilst presenting an impenetrable shell to predators.
Panoplosaurus was first described by Lawrence Lambe in 1919. The original fossils were discovered at Dinosaur Park Formation, Alberta, Canada.