15 Jaw-some Facts About The Saichania For Kids

Saichania means ‘beautiful one’ and is a genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur, which is a herbivore and used to live in the Late Cretaceous period of history in Mongolia and China. One of the first fossils was found in Mongolia in the era of 1970s. But after few years, in the year 1977, the type species was named Saichania chulsanensis. The fossils found of this species have not been in a good condition so far which makes its description less accurate, mostly the rear of the animal is not known. They were discovered with other dinosaur species as well like Protoceratops, Tarbosaurus, and Velociraptor. These dinosaurs were over 17 ft (5.18 m) and weighed nearly 2 tons (1814.37 kg), but they were still smaller than their relative species of Ankylosaurus and also had a robust build than other members of the family. Their breast bones, neck vertebrae, ribs, and shoulder girdle were firmly connected. Their body was flat and possessed four short thick legs. Their forelimbs were very powerful and were protected by bulbous armor tiles which helped them protect against predators like Tarbosaurus.

Got an interest in dinosaurs? Here you can learn more about Nodosaurus and Volgatitan and can get more insights into them.

How do you pronounce 'Saichania'?

This small-head and spiked dinosaur of suborder Ankylosauria are very easy to pronounce. The Saichania pronunciation is 'Sie-chan-ee-ah'. They often get compared to other Ankylosaurids like Nodosaurus, which can be called their cousins species.

What type of dinosaur was a Saichania?

The Saichania dinosaur is an armored dinosaur that had spikes on its body. This dinosaur was very heavily armored with bone spurs arranged in a row up and down the whole body. Their tail had a very large and heavy hammer-like structure which they used as a good weapon for self-defense.

In which geological period did the Saichania roam the earth?

The Mongolian Saichania used to live in the Campanian Late Cretaceous period of 80 MYA, which was about 90-95 million years ago. The ancestors and other ankylosaurids of this herbivorous dinosaur used to live in the Middle Jurassic period.

When did the Saichania become extinct?

The dinosaur Saichania (Saichania chulsanensis) of the family Ankylosauridae and genus Saichania became extinct around 90-100 million years ago. It is believed that they became extinct due to natural disasters or meteor attacks.

Where did a Saichania live?

Saichania is a dinosaur that used to inhabit parts of China and Mongolia, mostly the Asian parts of the world. They mostly inhabited the areas the warm or arid areas and sometimes in the desert also around sand dunes and oases.

What was a Saichania's habitat?

This herbivore dinosaur was the animal of desert habitat but the places where they inhabited used to have a lack of green food and foliage. Desert areas, scrublands, semi-arid regions, and some dry woodlands used to be their idle habitat. Some scientists portrayed that Saichania used to share their habitats with Tarchia and Zaraapelta. These ankylosauruses used to be the main herbivores in the area.

Who did a Saichania live with?

The social behavior is not known of this animal, but like other Ankylosaurid, they used to live with similar species like Polacanthus, and Crichtonsaurus to display their strong armored feature to the bigger dinosaurs.

How long did a Saichania live?

These dinosaurs lived in the Late Cretaceous period and are the only known species is Saichania Sulchanensis. They were discovered by Maryańska.

How did they reproduce?

There is no absolute information available on the reproduction of this prehistoric creature as of now. Little is known that they laid eggs.

What did a Saichania look like?

Saichania was a large dinosaur of the Ankylosaurid category and possessed a length of 23 ft (7 m). Their body build is related to Ankylosaurid. They were low-slung and had a heavily armored body with short forelimbs. Saichania is considered exceptional for an Ankylosauridae because of its strong rump by ossifications and fusions of ribs, girdle, vertebral column, and breast bones.

How many bones did a Saichania have?

The exact number of bones in the Saichania skeleton is not known yet. Out of many dinosaurs that have lived in history, Saichania had one of the longest tails.

How did they communicate?

There is not much information available on the communication ways of this dinosaur.

How big was a Saichania?

The length of the Saichania was about 17-23 ft (5.2-7 m).

How fast could a Saichania move?

Being a heavyweight dinosaur, Saichania was a slow-moving dinosaur and hence Saichania's speed also was very low as compared to other lightweight dinosaurs. They were sometimes called lizard-looking dinosaurs like other Ankylosaurids and had very similar spikes like that of a saltwater crocodile.

How much did a Saichania weigh?

Saichania weighed 2 tons (1814.37 kg) which is almost half the weight of the close species of Ankylosaurid called Nodosaurus. The Saichania's weight was one of the reasons they were not able to move fast and hence gave the chance of hunting to their predators which were big carnivorous dinosaurs. Their armored back was used to defend them.

What were the male and female names of the species?

There are no specific names for the male and the female of this species of the east Asian Saichania (Saichania chulsanensis). They were discovered by Maryańska.

What would you call a baby Saichania?

The baby of this herbivore dinosaur does not have any particular name to get called by. They were called baby Saichania.

What did they eat?

These Ankylosaurids were herbivores animals and so mainly, the diet was plant material and foliage. They ate grasses, leaves, shrubs, herbs, vegetable leaves, and flowers in their diet.

How aggressive were they?

These armored animals who lived in the late cretaceous period were moderately aggressive. They had a good advantage of armor on their body but if the predator flips them, they will become unable to defend themselves.

Did you know...

It is believed that the length of this dinosaur was almost equal to the combined length of two cars. These dinosaurs had very high attack skills and were used to deal efficiently with grave injury and damage. They even used to cripple larger predators. But even having these advantages, they were very low on stamina as compared to other Ankylosaurid and had a vulnerable character as a juvenile. 

What fossils have been found from the Saichania?

From all the fossils which have been found of this small-head dinosaur, the fossils of the skull and the body armor are the ones that are very well preserved and were to tell so much more about the animal.

Their neck was protected by two cervical halflings made of segments. These segments were connected to a band of bone underlying it. The central row of conical osteoderms was positioned on the back. Some of the osteoderms had the shape of cones. Osteoderms that were large were ordered in transverse rows and small ossicles connect the larger elements.

Saichania skull had some complex air passages. In the skull, the external nostrils had a roomy nasal vestibule. Also in the two vestibules, there were two small entrances present in a vertical manner. Their nasal cavity was very large and was below the snout roof. The teeth were leaf-shaped and small in size.

Saichania vs. Ankylosaurus

The meaning of Ankylosaurus means ‘fused lizard’, while Saichania means ‘beautiful one ’. Ankylosaurus was a quadrupedal Ornithischian dinosaur from the same age period as that of Saichania. Ankylosaurus had a more arched snout as compared to Saichania and also oval nostrils. Saichania’s nose was rugose with concave horns. The skull of Ankylosaurus used to be bigger than that of Saichani’s. The length of Saichania was smaller than Ankylosaurus’s length which used to be 32.8 ft (10 m). The dermal scutes of Saichania were raised like horn projections, but the horns of Ankylosaurus had a carapace appearance. The fossils of Ankylosaurus were found in North America, while that of Saichania were found in East Asian regions (Mongolia and China).

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 Chasmosaurus facts pages and Diabloceratops facts pages.

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

Main image is an illustration by Conty.

Second image is an illustration by Abelov in 2014.