Living: The Sauropelta was the first and most primitive member of the Nodosaurid-family, which lived in Northern America. Other Nodosaurids, like the Edmontonia, had big bony shoulders but the Sauropelta’s shoulders, back and tail were covered with horned bones with rows of small spikes in the middle.
Even the doubled palate was not what the Sauropelta had. This speciality with the other Nodosaurids makes them capable of eating and breathing at the same time. But as all other Nodosaurids had, its tail ended in a point, and not in a bludgeon. Like other armored dinosaurs and their relatives, the Sauropelta ate of small plants with its weak teeth. Other vegetarian dinosaurs from the same period as the Sauropelta varied in size: From the relatively small Hypsilophodontids to the gigantic Sauropods. Those predators known from that time reached from the Microvenator, which were at the size of a turkey, to the Deinonychus and other ostrich-like dinosaur like the Struthiomimus. The Sauropeltas’ worst enemy could have been large Theropods, which are not yet discovered. The Sauropelta was a clumsy animal and moved almost as fast as normal human walking, even though it could run in a decent speed. It certainly could not have escaped from a herd of long-legged and wild Dromaeosaurids.
Primitive armor: The Sauropeltas’ armor was primitive compared to its relative, the Edmontonia. The coat of mail around the body had spikes on both sides of the neck. It had probably also spikes on the sides, which protected the dinosaur against attacks from all angles. If the Sauropelta got surrounded, it laid down to protect the most badly armored part of the body: The stomach.
Body-armor: Three fossil-pins from the back of the dinosaur must have protected their owner of attacks from dangerous Theropods. The pins were set in rows, like the armor on our times armadillo.
