Ankylosaurus vs Rex

acrylics on card with digital enhancement, 2004-2012

66,000,000 years ago, Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian), Montana, USA

A pair of Ankylosaurus magniventris keep a marauding Tyrannosaurus rex at bay with their clubbed tails. Among the largest and the last of the armoured dinosaurs, Ankylosaurus is often incorrectly restored with homogeneous, closely-packed dorsal scutes. In reality, the armour had a far more complex arrangement (although still incompletely known) which included large multi-ridged neck-and-shoulder guards and smooth trashcan-lid sized back scutes. There is no evidence of any sharp spines - Ankylosaurus appears to have been the least spiky of the ankylosaurids.

T.rex needs no introduction. This individual is a recently-matured adult (Bucky-sized) completing his final growth spurt and suddenly realising that he is now much bigger than all the herbivores on the block. He is recklessly throwing his weight around which is probably a very bad idea in this instance.

This reconstruction was initially started back in 2004, based directly on Ken Carpenter's redescription of that year (Can. J. Earth Sci. 41: 961–986) for a possible article in the WA Museum Dinonews periodical. Dinonews went kaput and I had to move across Australia to Vic - thus I stopped when it was 60% complete. In September 2012, I finally finished it over the weekend.