today the most armed herbivorous land animal of all time will face the most armored land animal to ever walk the earth that's right folks you're about to witness what would happen if a triceratops runs into the ankylosaurus we will discuss weapons armor intelligence and more to determine the winner of this fight so if this is your first time here take a split second to hit that like and subscribe button so you can see more content like this goji center now presents triceratops versus the ankylosaurus before we begin i'd like to show you some footage of me playing mecharina our sponsor right now i'm playing in the 5v5 mode which is my favorite before you start you need to pick one of your mechs and we're off i'm the type of guy that likes to attack from the flanks or elevated areas and boom first opponent down and there goes another one i got blown up so now i'm going to respawn using another mech this one has a thermal lance haha it moves slower but it has more hit points there are 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add goji center so we can play some matches and wreck some macs thanks to macarena for sponsoring this video and now let's get back to our dinosaur showdown if you know anything about dinosaurs you will know that our contestants are herbivorous creatures animals that spend all day munching on veggies are usually perceived as docile pushovers that do nothing but fill the lower ranks of the food chain if that's you then you are incorrect and if you think triceratops and ankylosaurus would never run into each other and fight well you might also be wrong there in the real world confrontations between armored and unarmored herbivores happen on a daily basis and in many cases result in a fatal aftermath so why would a triceratops and an ankylosaurus bother fighting the answer is simple resources these animals instinctual default behaviors drive them to find the stuff that keeps them alive such as food and water therefore any obstruction to a limited resource will now be considered a threat and now ladies and gentlemen we have a fight triceratops was the largest ceratopsian in the cretaceous period measuring up to 30 feet in length and close to 10 feet tall the largest bull triceratops specimens could have weighed up to 11.6 tons making this a formidable foe for literally any land animal to ever exist let's not ignore the fact that this dinosaur's most armored area takes up almost a third of its body this 1 000 pound head will be the main weapon this animal will use against its opponent its adversary the ankylosaurus was perhaps the most heavily armored dinosaur during this time period measuring up to 26 feet in length with a height of up to six feet this guy wasn't necessarily as large as a triceratops but it didn't need to be we will talk about why later if we compare these animals side by side it's easy to draw conclusions your conclusions may be right after all but to learn more let us now enter the analysis platform intelligence measuring the intelligence of an extinct dinosaur can be quite difficult especially if you're only left with fossils and brain cavities because of this a system known as eq or encephalization quotient is used to give us a less blurry idea of their cognitive potential these rankings are based on brain to body size ratios meaning that the bigger your brain is compared to your body the more intelligent you could be ceratopsians and ankylosaurids are located in the lower ranks of this chart as you can see these guys fall behind the true adantids carnosaurus crocs and ornithopods the eq of ceratopsians however ranks above the ankylosaurus meaning that it is likely that this whole family of dinosaurs is estimated to be smarter or less dumb than the ankylosaurus brain to body size ratios shouldn't be the only metric taken into account just because an animal's brain is smaller does not mean it's dumb the brain of a triceratops was very likely tubular in shape most of it was made up of its olfactory bulb which was responsible for its sense of smell the frontal lobe however the part that does the actual thinking and problem solving was not developed compared to other smarter dinosaurs although not very smart this animal made up for it with its highly developed senses and well-tuned instinctive behaviors they were probably intelligent enough to understand the capabilities of their weapons take rhinos for example although not the brightest of mammals they understand how to use those horns to gore up in opponents what about the ankylosaurus having a heavily armored head came at a price these thick skulls made little room for brain casing with most of it devoted to the sense of smell what's left of the brain was most likely delegated to the remaining senses and cognition being creatures that would only eat sleep breed and repeat anything or anyone that interrupted this routine would most likely trigger its defensive instincts which in this case involves the knowledge of how to use their club an instinctual response passed down for many generations and that's as far as it goes almost no problem solving happening here when your only issue in life is an interruption from eating or breeding all you really need is a heavy club to swat away the problem both of these animals were not that smart but one was dumber than the other for this battle attribute triceratops takes the edge for battle intelligence defense being animals that could endure and survive attacks from a t-rex only meant that they were equipped with armor that could withstand a barrage of attacks but who can withstand more the triceratops main defensive body part was its massive frill that made up almost half of its entire skull length there are many theories that claim that this frills purpose was more for display than for defense in response to these claims andrew fark conducted a brief observational study that recorded injury patterns in the skulls of triceratops and centrosaurus specimens why well both of these dinosaur skulls are different in that their horns are arranged in opposite fashions the reasoning was simple one if these animals did indeed fight each other then the position of their horns would have led to different ways of fighting and as time went by these injuries would appear in different locations of their body two if the frills and horns were only used for display then both of these animals would fight in a similar manner and have injuries on the same spots other than their skulls the results both of these guys had injuries on their skulls but triceratops had 10 times more on the squamosal bone meaning that these dinosaurs had to lower their heads and engage in the interlocking of horns so yes these frills were likely suited for defense the ankylosaurus on the other hand did not have a frill but it did have plenty of these circular bony plates covering its body these are known as osteoderms other animals of the ankylosaur family had these as well except they were dense and heavy not the ankylosaurus these osteoderms were thinner in comparison to its other relatives but were strengthened by cushions of collagen fibers which were embedded into the bone tissue this provided armor that was more lightweight but just as resistant as its relatives the osteoderms ranged from a mere half an inch to 14 inches in diameter and they were accompanied by a very thick hide the only downside to this armor is that it only covered the upper part of its body anything below these areas would have been unprotected and vulnerable to damage could these withstand a triceratops horn yes and no these osteoderms could stop teeth and claws but a 3.3 foot horn pressing on a small pressure point could pierce this hide or the gaps between the osteoderms the only thing that would prevent this is the ankylosaurus posture remember this guy is only six feet tall an ankylosaurus lowering its body would make it difficult for the trike to lower its head enough to angle its horns in a piercing position these horns would simply scrape the surface in terms of overall armor it is clear that the ankylosaurus armor covers a larger part of its body than the triceratops giving it the edge for overall defensive attributes locomotion the triceratops was ironically one of the most agile of all the ceratopsians this guy was something else take a look at this dinosaur's leg structure while its back legs are positioned like a rhinos the front legs are splayed outward like a lizard these strong forelimbs allow the triceratops to turn really fast in any direction while always facing its opponent this animal's agility does not end here it is estimated that a fully grown triceratops could run up to 15 miles per hour admittedly that is not very fast compared to other more nimble dinosaurs but it is a considerable speed for this specific battle the ankylosaurus on the other hand was not as agile its leg anatomy was not similar to the triceratops its legs were also much shorter meaning that each stride covers less ground the combination of this stubby build and heavy armor puts its top speed around six miles per hour the only agile part of this animal's body would have been its hind legs and tail as these would have to move quickly to wind up a blow using its main weapon but in overall agility and speed the triceratops takes the edge thanks to its leg anatomy now let's get to the fun stuff short-range weaponry triceratops is mostly known for its pair of deadly horns on its head capable of withstanding up to 36 000 pounds of force these horns were covered in a thick layer of keratin the stuff that your nails are made out of measuring more than three feet long these were capable of piercing deep into an opponent's torso and piercing the lungs and heart any strike aimed at any limbs would also cause severe injuries and render them useless in addition to their strong composition these were aimed using an advanced evolutionary mechanism known today as a ball socket joint this is the closest nature has gotten to a perfect sphere this allowed the triceratops to move its head in a circular motion but as mentioned previously this triceratops would first lower its head and gore at the opponent this joint was more than enough to accomplish this before we move on let's address the fact that there were some variations within the triceratops genus meet triceratops horridus and triceratops process these two species differed in the length of their snouts and nose horns but fossil discoveries also make it evident that their horns looked different at least for the fully grown specimens these horn variations could both inflict severe damage but the curvature of these would affect how these would work against an ankylosaurus the upwards curvature in a mature horrendous specimen is more likely to damage the undersides of an ankylosaurus but the forward bend on the process species will make it more difficult to reach now that we're talking about the ankylosaurus let us introduce you to its main weapon its tail which had two components a handle and the knob this part of the tail was composed of very thick tendons which were ossified this means that they were so concentrated that they turned into bony tissue as a result this tail was better suited to inflict fatal impacts it has been estimated that this tail could move in a 100 degree range of motion a study conducted by victoria arbor found that one ankylosaurus could wind up a hit with a maximum force of 14 360 newtons this metric was from a euplocephalus anything larger than this would make the club run the risk of shattering itself yes that's how strong this club is this weapon would make quick work of any t-rex's metatarsals and fibula and possibly strong enough to break the triceratops ribcage or front limbs and if it was lucky take it out with one blow to the skull so who takes the edge on one hand you have a dinosaur that can kill the opponent with a single stab of those horns on the other a tail club that can obliterate any bony structure it makes contact with both have the capability of killing an opponent if the damage is inflicted in the correct location making this a draw in close range weaponry we are now ready to reveal who will win in an encounter between these two herbivores triceratops takes the edge in intelligence and locomotion while the ankylosaurus takes the edge in corporal defensive attributes thanks to its suit of armor both of these dinosaurs come equal in the damage that those weapons can inflict by compiling all the collected data we determined that the ankylosaurus will win most encounters between these two dinosaurs this however is not the complete verdict although it is true that an ankylosaurus would win most of these encounters it is unlikely that these victories will result in the triceratops death let us explain in this specific type of encounter there are a few factors that make the ankylosaurus win most of these encounters the first is its height if these dinosaurs decide that a bush is worth squaring up for the triceratops would most likely be the first aggressor the ankylosaurus's instinctual response to the attack will make it lock itself into its default defensive position which is lowering its short body and slanting its armor back against the attacker this defensive stance makes it almost impossible for the triceratops horns to wedge under and stab its unprotected underbelly but realistically the triceratops still wouldn't be smart enough to exploit this weakness a horn strike to the protected part of the ankylosaurus will only deflect the horns not to mention that the ankylosaurus would have been instinctively hardwired to strike the triceratops's flanks possibly breaking its ribs front limbs and maybe its frill the only way a triceratops would win this fight would be by flipping over the ankylosaurus in the off chance that this does occur it would have been by accident but even this maneuver is highly unlikely especially if we take these two horn variations into account a triceratops that does manage to defeat an ankylosaurus would most likely be an adult horrendous species given the shape of their horns there is a higher chance for a horrendous to pull off this maneuver than a process having said this a triceratops win would have been a far greater fatality rate than an ankylosaurus victory the triceratops has all the tools necessary to kill an ankylosaurus but it does not have the cognitive ability to figure out how to use its weapons effectively against this specific opponent ironically a triceratops would have an easier time facing a t-rex since its unprotected body will always be vulnerable against a strike from a trike trying to stab something underneath your range of motion is more difficult in conclusion the ankylosaurus would win most of the encounters but the trike might not get killed but on the off chance that the trike does win it's likely that the ankylosaurus will die what do you think about this encounter are there any other herbivores that could actually defeat an ankylosaurus let us know what you think in the comments for more fun face-off documentaries and info about your favorite kaiju make sure to give us a like and subscribe thank you so much for watching and we will see you in the next face-off you