Ankylosaurs are known for their body armor and tail mallets. Its tail mallet consists of several large pieces of intradermal bone that fuse with the last few tail vertebrae to form a hard rod. Most scientists believe that Ankylosaur’s tail hammer was used to defend against predation. But according to new research published in the journal Biology Letters, tail mallets may be primarily used to whip each other. Lead author Dr Victoria Arbour, who has been studying ankylosaurs for many years, found that some species had tail mallets and some did not, also known as nodosaurs. So what exactly is the tail mallet used for? She measured existing tail mallet fossils to estimate their striking force and found that the small tail mallets were too small to be useful as defenses against predators. Further research suggests that tail mallets may have been used in intra-population fighting, possibly causing wounds in the opponent’s flanks. Researchers have found wounds in a well-preserved fossil of a species called Zuul crurivastator that are thought to have formed and then healed through repeated whipping.
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