Trusted Ad Partner
Natural History: The World’s Strangest Dinosaur Just Got Stranger
28 August 2025
By James Hamilton
By James Hamilton
Spicomellus master shot (4K). Credit: Matt Dempsey
Scientists have discovered that the world’s strangest dinosaur was even more bizarre than anyone imagined.
New research in Nature shows that Spicomellus afer, the earliest known ankylosaur, carried an arsenal of armour that makes even the fiercest dinosaurs look ordinary. Picture metre-long spikes jutting from its neck, massive blades rising over its hips, and bony plates fused to its ribs - something no other animal, living or extinct, has ever had.
And this was no late evolutionary oddity. Spicomellus lived 165 million years ago, in the Middle Jurassic, near what’s now Boulemane in Morocco, making it the oldest ankylosaur on record and the first ever found in Africa.
Prof. Susannah Maidment of London’s Natural History Museum, who co-led the study, says the discovery rewrites what we thought we knew about these dinosaurs: “To find such elaborate armour in the very first ankylosaur changes everything. It shows just how significant Africa’s dinosaurs are, and how much we still have to learn.”
The creature was first described in 2021 from a single rib. But new fossils reveal a walking fortress bristling with spikes - some nearly a metre long.
Prof. Richard Butler of the University of Birmingham recalls his reaction when he first saw the bones: “It was spine-tingling. Spicomellus is unlike any dinosaur we’ve ever seen. It turns our understanding of ankylosaurs on its head.”
Interestingly, the spikes may have been for show rather than defence - a flashy display to impress mates or intimidate rivals. Later ankylosaurs, facing an era of giant predators, evolved plainer, sturdier armour built for survival rather than spectacle.
But Spicomellus had another trick: a weaponised tail. Its preserved vertebrae suggest the beginnings of a tail club—something that doesn’t appear again until millions of years later in the Cretaceous. That means this early dinosaur may have pioneered one of the ankylosaur family’s most iconic features.
For researchers, the discovery underscores Morocco’s importance as a fossil treasure trove. Prof. Driss Ouarhache of Université Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah, who co-led the Moroccan team, puts it simply: “We’ve never seen dinosaurs like this before. And there is still so much more to uncover.”
The fossils were carefully prepared and studied in Fez, Morocco, and are now housed there for further research.
The study - Extreme armour in the world’s oldest ankylosaur - is another reminder that even after centuries of fossil hunting, dinosaurs are still full of surprises.
Images from the Morocco dig can be found in our gallery below. © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London
📚 OTHER POPULAR STORIES TO READ:
Next article: Five essential tips when choosing a new nest box for your garden
Next article: SWAROVSKI OPTIK release light and compact ATC/STC spotting scopes
Next article: Five of our favourite springtime wildlife sights and sounds
Next article: Six of the best RSPB nature reserves to watch owls in the UK
Next article: The best nature reserves to head to in the cold weather
Next article: Endangered tansy beetle hides out at WWT Welney
Next article: Five essential tips when choosing a new nest box for your garden
Next article: SWAROVSKI OPTIK release light and compact ATC/STC spotting scopes
Next article: Five of our favourite springtime wildlife sights and sounds
Next article: Six of the best RSPB nature reserves to watch owls in the UK
Next article: The best nature reserves to head to in the cold weather
Next article: Endangered tansy beetle hides out at WWT Welney
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works