Gargoyleosaurus

Gargoyleosaurus was an early armoured dinosaur that inhabited North America during the Late Jurassic period, around 150 million years ago. Unearthed from the famous Morrison Formation in Wyoming, its name references gargoyles due to the ornate horns and bony bosses adorning its broad skull. Measuring approximately three to three and a half metres in length, it was relatively compact compared to later Cretaceous relatives. Gargoyleosaurus possessed ancestral features, including teeth in its upper beak, which were subsequently lost in derived ankylosaurs. Its body was protected by transverse bands of bony osteoderms and spines extending down its flanks. As a low-level browser, it fed on tough vegetation, sharing its habitat with iconic giants such as Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, and massive sauropods in a semi-arid, seasonal landscape.

It preserves one of the oldest, most complete skulls of any known ankylosaur.

Where and when

Gargoyleosaurus lived in the Late Jurassic, from 155 to 149 million years ago (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian age). Its remains come from United States, in the Morrison Formation.

The numbers

Length 3.3 m (estimates run from 3 to 3.5 m). Mass about 390 kg. Hip height about 1 m. That is 1.9 human-lengths, or 0.29 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.

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