Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Dinosaurs bashed each other with built-in tail clubs

Exceptionally preserved fossil suggests the armoured species Zuul crurivastator used its ‘tail club’ for battles with rivals.
Zuul crurivastator skull

Zuul crurivastator had both armoured plating and a sledgehammer-like tail weapon. Credit: Royal Ontario Museum

The ankylosaurid dinosaurs had stiff tails ending in massive bony knobs, which were long thought to be defensive weapons for warding off tyrannosaurs and other predators. But today’s most impressive animal weapons — antlers in the deer family, horns in the sheep family — are used mainly for battles with members of the same species over mates.

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Nature 612, 379 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04252-9

References

  1. Arbour, V. M., Zanno, L. & Evans, D. Biol. Lett. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0404 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links