
Dinosaur profile
Saichania
Pronunciation
Sie-chan-ee-ah
Beautiful one
Armoured Dinosaur
6.6 meters long
Late Cretaceous
80 million years ago
Mongolia
DietHerbivore
About Saichania
Saichania is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 70-66 million years ago. It was a small to medium-sized ankylosaurid, with a body length of about 5-6 meters (16-20 feet) and a weight of about 1-2 metric tons. Saichania is known from incomplete fossil remains found in Mongolia and China.
Like other ankylosaurids, Saichania was heavily armored and had a robust, low-slung body with a club-like tail. It had a bony 'crown' or ridge on its head and a series of bony plates and spines running along its spine and tail. It probably used its armor for protection against predators, as well as for display and territorial behavior. Saichania may have also used its tail club as a weapon against predators or as a means of defense.
Saichania is considered a basal ankylosaurid, meaning that it is one of the earliest and most primitive members of the group. It is thought to have evolved in the early stages of the radiation of ankylosaurids, before the evolution of more advanced ankylosaurid groups like the nodosaurids and ankylosaurines.
Wikipedia image gallery
Extra reference images from Wikimedia projects. These are loaded live in your browser.
More Late Cretaceous profiles
Explore related dinosaurs with similar diet, type, period, or fossil location to Saichania.





