Sauropelta was an armored dinosaur from the early Cretaceous period. It looked a lot like its more advanced relative Ankylosaurus, but didn't have the bony nodes at the end of its tail or horns on its head. It had a narrow skull with massive jaws, small, leay-shaped cheek teeth and a toothless beak. It had horn-covered plates embedded in its skin all over its body (except on its underbelly). Its entire top side was heavily protected from carnivores. This huge, heavy reptile was an herbivore (it ate only plants). It had to eat a huge amount of low-lying plant material to sustain itself so its gut must have been very large. It probably had a fermentation compartment to aid in the digestion of the tough plant material, producing prodigious amounts of gas.
Diet: low-growing plants
Size: Length 7.6m (25ft)
Weight 2.7 tonnes
Classification:
Family Nodosauridae
Infraorder Ankylosauria
Suborder Thyreophora
Order Ornithischia
Time (million years ago): 114-97