Dinosaurs Kids Love: The Ankylosaurus
Excerpt from Fandex Kids: Dinosaurs. Copyright © 2022 by Workman Publishing.
Ankylosaurus is sometimes compared to a tank . . . and for good reason! Armor-like protection covered its entire body: its head, neck, back, and tail—every spot except for its belly. The knobby protective covering was clustered with densely packed “scutes.” Scutes are plates of bone embedded in the Ankylosaurus’s skin and covered with a hard coating of keratin, the same protein found in your hair or in a rhino’s horn. These bony scutes weren’t attached in any way to its skeleton. They really were like a suit of armor. And although Ankylosaurus’s strength was defense, it came with an offensive weapon, too—a clubbed tail that could be whipped around at high speed. In fact, the last few bones of an Ankylosaurus’s tail were fused together, almost like the handle for a club.
Ankylosaurus was slow moving, not too bright, and not very tall. It didn’t need to be with its diet of low-growing plants. Unlike predators, it didn’t have to chase anything down or hunt. Low and slow had its advantages. Since it was short, maybe about 5 to 6 feet tall (1.6 to 1.8 m), and long, about 33 feet (10.1 m) from nose to tail, it had a low center of gravity. If a hungry predator, like a T. rex, came along and wanted a snack? Good luck with that! All an Ankylosaurus had to do was drop to the ground and let the armor do its job. A full-grown Ankylosaurus was almost impossible to tip over, tank you very much.
More About Fandex Kids: Dinosaurs
It’s Fandex® reinvented, in a fresh, new format designed just for curious kids!
The bestselling Fandex decks have been given a complete overhaul to make them just right for children ages 8 and up—the illustrations are brighter and bolder, the die-cuts are simplified to make the cards easier to leaf through, and the text is livelier and age-appropriate. But the unique promise of Fandex is right here—a “facts that fit in your hand” die-cut-card-deck format packed with fascinating images and information about topics kids love.
Which means dinosaurs, of course. Inspired by both kids’ love for the subject and the success of the original Fandex: Dinosaurs, with more than 200,000 in print, Fandex Kids: Dinosaurs features 48 of those most amazing creatures. Meet the pigeon-sized Archaeopteryx, which may have been a step in the evolution from dinosaur to bird, and the enormous Brachiosaurus, which scientists believe could live for 100 years! In addition, the deck includes a timeline of the Mesozoic Era, a glossary, size comparisons, and more.
