Fun Akainacephalus Facts For Kids

The Akainacephalus (Akainacephalus johnsoni) was an Ankylosaurian dinosaur that was alive in the late Campanian stage of the late Cretaceous era. It is thought to have lived around 83-73 million years ago and to have become extinct about 76-73 million years ago.

Akainacephalus fossil remains were found in the Kaiparowits formation in southern Utah, Kane County in North America. This part of southern Utah belonged to the primitive continent of Laramidia.

It can be said that the Akainacephalus walked on what is today western North America. The homeland of the Akainacephalus was close to the Western Interior Seaway, which was a seaway that divided Appalachia and Laramidia.

The Akainacephalus is known for having a 'handle-and-club' tail and body armor. It lived on a plateau and a floodplain that contained wetland peat swamps, ponds, channels, lakes, and high mountains around it.

The late Cretaceous-era Akainacephalus inhabited a humid and wet climate and was more closely related to Asian Ankylosaurids than to American ones. The Akainacephalus diet was a herbivorous one.

For more relatable content, check out these Atrociraptor facts and Brachytrachelopan facts for kids.

Akainacephalus Interesting Facts

How do you pronounce 'Akainacephalus'?

Akainacephalus is pronounced as 'uh-KEE-nuh-SEFF-uh-luss'. Also, the specific name 'johnsoni' is pronounced as 'JON-son-eye'.

What type of dinosaur was an Akainacephalus?

The Akainacephalus (Akainacephalus johnsoni) was an Ankylosaurid dinosaur.

In which geological period did the Akainacephalus roam the Earth?

The Akainacephalus (Akainacephalus johnsoni) roamed the Earth during the Campanian stage of the late Cretaceous period.

When did the Akainacephalus become extinct?

The Akainacephalus (Akainacephalus johnsoni) lived in the Campanian age which spanned the period between 83-73 million years ago. The layer where the specimen of the late Cretaceous-era Akainacephalus was discovered was at least 76 million years old, so the Akainacephalus dinosaur would have gone extinct 76-73 million years ago.

Where did an Akainacephalus live?

The late Cretaceous-era Akainacephalus (Akainacephalus johnsoni) walked lands that are today a part of western North America, specifically in the United States. Remains were in southern Utah, in the Kaiparowits formation.

The only species of the Akainacephalus genus is the Akainacephalus johnsoni, and a complete specimen was found in the southern part of Laramidia, a continent that existed in the late Cretaceous period.

When the Akainacepahalus (Akainacephalus johnsoni) lived in the Campanian age of the late Cretaceous period, and the present-day Kaiparowits formation was situated near the Western Interior Seaway's western shore.

The Western Interior Seaway was a big inland sea that divided today's North America into two masses of land which were Appalachia to the eastern side and Laramidia towards the western side.

The exact place of discovery of the Akainacephalus was in 2008 in southern Utah, Kane County, in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

What was an Akainacephalus' habitat?

These Akainacephalus (the species Akainacephalus johnsoni) dinosaurs lived on a plateau in Laramadia that was really a floodplain that had many big channels and wetlands, peat swamps, lakes, and ponds. The Laramidia plateau was surrounded by highlands and the climate there was humid and wet, and also supported a diverse and abundant range of living things.

Who did an Akainacephalus live with?

It is unclear whether the Akainacephalus (Akainacephalus johnsoni) lived and foraged in packs or alone but these dinosaurs definitely got together to mate.

How long did an Akainacephalus live?

Being a herbivore, this Akainacephalus dinosaur from North America may have lived on the upper end of the 30-100 years range.

How did they reproduce?

Like other Ankylosaurids, the Akainacephalus (Akainacephalus johnsoni) reproduced by mating and egg-laying.

Akainacephalus Fun Facts

What did an Akainacephalus look like?

The Akainacephalus (Akainacephalus johnsoni) was a moderate-sized dinosaur. The head and the body of this Ankylosaurid were both heavily armored and ornamented.

Cones and spikes on the Akainacephalus's complete skull resemble ones on the Ankylosaurid found in New Mexico, the Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis. This bony armor is distinct from other closely related Ankylosaurids from the Laramidian landmass from the late Cretaceous period, such as the Euoplocephalus, the Ankylosaurus, the Nodocephalosaurus, and the Ziapelta.

Hence, these Akainacephalus ankylosaurids can be assumed to be more closely related to Asian ankylosaurids than to ones of western North America.

Akainacephalus (Akainacephalus johnsoni) ankylosaurids had several distinctive traits, some of them truly unique. Their supraorbital bosses looked large when viewed from the side and they formed a back-swept and high ridge and extended over eye sockets in a sideways fashion. These bosses also encompassed the rear edge and the front top corner of the dinosaur's eye sockets.

There were also horns on the cheek of this Ankylosaurid that were triangular and pointed almost completely downwards. A flat, large, and central osteoderm was present on bones in the front.

The zone that spans from the basal to front bones was wrapped with closely packed, symmetric, conical, and pyramid-shaped caputegulae. The Akainacephalus bone structure on the nose shows a specific central row of these caputegulae which are separated from osteoderms from the side and from above.

Also, near the end of the complete skull of the Akainacephalus ankylosaurid, the basioccipital forms the foramen magnum, situated in front of and above the occipital condyle. Above the dinosaur's nostrils are flaring bony armors.

The squamosal horn is small. The triangular cheek horn points downward or forward.

Squamosal horns were broken off in the Akainacephalus ankylosaurid holotype so their exact shape is hard to know. The skull was also compressed from back to front which created a kink in the facial area.

Premaxillae and snout bones in the front formed a U-shaped, wide, upper beak that was wider than it was long. The bony body armor did not cover the area to the side of the snout.

Each side of the maxillary teeth had at least 16 teeth. Bony nostrils also oriented themselves to the snout's sides. There was no clear subdivision of smaller openings in the small nostrils.

The strongly-inclined quadrate bone caused the jaw joint to be positioned at the front point of the cheek horn, visible when viewed from the side. This is different than other closely related Ankylosaurids.

How many bones did an Akainacephalus have?

The exact amount of bones that an Akainacephalus had is not known.

How did they communicate?

Akainacephalus dinosaurs communicated via visual and vocal signals. Visual signals made by these dinosaurs included mating and territorial displays and vocal cues were sounds like bellows and grunts.

How big was an Akainacephalus?

Akainacephalus ankylosaurids were 13-16 ft (4-4.9 m) long and 3.5 ft (1.1 m) tall, which makes them two times bigger than the Oryctodromeus.

How fast could an Akainacephalus move?

It is unclear how fast Akainacephalus dinosaurs moved.

How much did an Akainacephalus weigh?

Akainacephalus dinosaurs weighed over 2,000 lb (907.2 kg).

What were the male and female names of the species?

Males and females of the Akainacephalus genus and species did not have any specific names.

What would you call a baby Akainacephalus?

A baby Akainacephalus would be called a hatchling or a nestling.

What did they eat?

The Akainacephalus ankylosaurid dinosaur was a herbivorous species and survived on plant materials and vegetation.

How aggressive were they?

The Akainacephalus ankylosaurid dinosaur may have been aggressive towards one another for mating rights or used its bony armor to defend against other, larger Theropods. Since the species was herbivorous, these dinosaurs weren't actively aggressive.

Did you know...

Randall Benjamin Irmis and a paleontologist from Netherlands, Jelle P. Wiersma, were responsible for naming the late Cretaceous-era Akainacephalus species. The generic name of the species comes from the Greek 'akaina' which translates to 'spike', a clear reference to the spiky bony armor on the head; and 'kephalè' which means 'head'.

The Akainacephalus species name translates to 'spiky head' or 'spike head'. The specific name 'johnsoni' is in honor of the preparator Randy Johnson.

There may have been a history of migration with the Akainacephalus species since characteristics of these dinosaurs are closely related to Asian ankylosaurids. There were at least two instances of migrations by Akainacephalus ancestors across the Beringian Land Bridge between Asia and North America due to sea levels dropping in Asian habitats.

The Beringian Land Bridge was 621.4 mi (1,000 km) wide and rose well above sea levels.

What was special about the Akainacephalus's tail?

The Akainacephalus's bony tail was very unique. It was shaped in the form of a handle and club. The holotype of the dinosaur species had eight tail vertebrae that were free and eleven vertebrae that formed the handle of the bony tail.

Are Akainacephalus herbivores?

Yes, the Akainacephalus ankylosaurid dinosaur was a herbivore.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly dinosaur facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other dinosaurs from our Chungkingosaurus facts and Rahonavis fun facts for kids pages.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable Akainacephalus coloring pages.

Main image by Juan(-username-).

Second image by Danny Cicchetti.