Ankylosaurs, a fascinating group of dinosaurs often likened to Pokmon due to their unique and armored build, were essentially natures walking tanks. These remarkable creatures roamed the Earth during the Late Jurassic period, spanning from approximately 164 to 145 million years ago, and the Cretaceous period, which lasted from 145 to 66 million years ago. They are classified into two primary subgroups: the nodosaurids, characterized by their absence of tail clubs and typically possessing four toes on both their hands and feet, and the ankylosaurids, which are identifiable by their distinctive clubbed tails and usually have three toes on their hind feet.

Despite paleontologists having discovered numerous four-toed ankylosaur footprints scattered throughout North America, the three-toed versions had remained a mysteryuntil now. An international team of researchers has unveiled the first known ankylosaurid footprints, dating back a staggering 100 million years. These fossilized footprints were uncovered in Canadas Peace Region, an area that encompasses the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. The researchers have designated this new ankylosaurid species as Ruopodosaurus clava, a significant find that addresses a long-standing gap in North Americas fossil records from the middle of the Cretaceous period.

While we dont know exactly what the dinosaur that made Ruopodosaurus footprints looked like, we know that it would have been about 5-6 metres long [approximately 16 to over 19 feet long], spiky and armoured, and equipped with a stiff tail or a full tail club, explained Victoria Arbour, the curator of paleontology at the Royal BC Museum, in a statement released by Taylor & Francis Group. The details of Arbour and her colleagues' research have been published in a recent study in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, a peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to the study of vertebrate paleontology.

The name Ruopodosaurus clava translates to the tumbled-down lizard with a club/mace, a title that pays homage to the mountainous terrain that helped preserve the footprints, as well as the dinosaurs formidable tail club that resembles a sledgehammer. The newly dated footprints, believed to be from the middle of the Cretaceous period, specifically between 100 and 94 million years ago, are particularly significant. Prior to this discovery, some researchers had posited that ankylosaurids may not have existed in North America during this epoch due to the absence of fossil evidence. This groundbreaking find not only fills that critical gap in the fossil record but also suggests that both nodosaurids and ankylosaurids inhabited this region millions of years ago.

The investigation originated when Charles Helm, a co-author of the study and a scientific advisor at the Tumbler Ridge Museum, documented three-toed tracks around Tumbler Ridge, a municipality located in the foothills of British Columbias Canadian Rockies, which also falls within the Peace Region. Ever since two young boys discovered an ankylosaur trackway near Tumbler Ridge in the year 2000, ankylosaurs and Tumbler Ridge have become synonymous. It is thrilling to confirm through this research that there were indeed two types of ankylosaurs that made this region their home, and that Ruopodosaurus has only been identified in this part of Canada, Helm remarked.

Arbour emphasized the importance of the Peace Region for understanding the evolutionary history of dinosaurs in North America, stating, This study also highlights how significant the Peace Region of northeastern BC is for enhancing our comprehension of dinosaur evolution in North Americatheres still much more to be discovered. By meticulously tracing the footsteps of these ancient dinosaurs that walked the Earth tens of millions of years ago, the research team has achieved a pioneering discovery, adding yet another piece to the intricate puzzle of the ankylosaur fossil record.