Nodosaurus

Nodosaurus is a genus of herbivorous dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 77 to 75 million years ago. It was a member of the family Nodosauridae, which also included other armored dinosaurs such as Ankylosaurus. Nodosaurus was a relatively small dinosaur, measuring about 9 meters (30 feet) in length and weighing about 2.5 tons. It had a distinctive body shape, with a long, low neck and a small head, and a row of bony plates along its back. The plates were connected to the spine by long bony rods, or spines, which formed a sort of armor along the top of the animal's body. Nodosaurus also had a pair of large, spiky clubs on the end of its tail, which it may have used to defend itself against predators. It was a quadrupedal dinosaur, meaning that it walked on four legs, and it likely lived in the forests and floodplains of what is now the western United States.