OBJECT DOSSIER · SMITHSONIAN OPEN ACCESS

Ankylosaurian dinosaur — Euoplocephalus tutus

SAGE Museum Deep Time scientific dossier

Artist / Creator

Victoria M. Arbour, Philip J. Currie

Date / Period

Late Cretaceous — Campanian · Late Cretaceous, Campanian for the Smithsonian complete mounted reference used here.

Object Type

cast

Medium

unknown_needs_review

About This Object

Geologic period: Late Cretaceous — Campanian

Age: Late Cretaceous, Campanian for the Smithsonian complete mounted reference used here.

Feeding: Herbivorous.

Locomotion: Terrestrial quadruped.

Body plan: Broad low quadruped with extensive osteoderms and a reinforced tail ending in a club.

Evidence: Skeleton and osteoderms are direct evidence. Combat behavior remains inferred.

Why it matters: Euoplocephalus lets visitors compare multiple independent defensive systems—armor, body shape and tail weaponry—within one animal.

Plain Language Identity: A heavily armored ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Campanian of western North America.

What You Are Looking At: A cast representing the armored skeleton of Euoplocephalus tutus.

Defense Or Attack: Body armor and tail club provided defensive capabilities.

Ecosystem: Campanian terrestrial ecosystem of Alberta.

Formation: Dinosaur Park Formation.

Find Location: Alberta, Canada.

Preservation: Visitor object is a cast.

Open Questions: Taxonomic history among North American ankylosaurids has been revised repeatedly; specimen identity should follow current catalog evidence.

Source Urls: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list; https://www.si.edu/object/nmnhpaleobiology_12307251

Enrichment Method: SAGE curated research pass; title + scientific name + source scene matched; comparative chronology retained; evidence separated from inference

Scientific name: Euoplocephalus tutus

Evidence / representation: comparative_taxon_visual

Why It Is In This SAGE Exhibit

comparative_taxon_visual

Cretaceous Worlds: Dinosaurs at Their Most Diverse.

Provenance

Smithsonian Deep Time source scene: Dinosaur Diversity Peaks / Cretaceous Seas 2

Visual source institution: Wikimedia Commons

Exhibition History

Included in the SAGE Museum Dinosaurs & Deep Time staging exhibit.

Collection & Credit

Media license: CC BY 2.5

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5

Subjects & Themes

Euoplocephalus tutus Late Cretaceous — Campanian cast Dinosaur Diversity Peaks / Cretaceous Seas 2 Cretaceous Worlds

ORIGINAL COLLECTION SOURCE

This object page stays inside SAGE Museum. The Smithsonian link below is provided only as the original scholarly collection record. It opens separately.

VIEW ORIGINAL SMITHSONIAN RECORD ↗