NUMBER ONE HUNDRED SEVEN: Happy Easter to those that celebrate.
- Animal: Doedicurus
- Name Pronunciation: Doe-dick-or-us
- Name Meaning: "Pestle tail"
- Species: D. clavicaudatus
- Named By: Hermann Burmeister - 1874
- Classification: Life, Eukaryota, Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Gnathostomata, Osteichthyes, Tetrapodomorpha, Tetrapoda, Reptiliomorpha, Amniota, Synapsida, Therapsida, Mammalia, Placentilia, Xenarthra, Cingulata, Chlamyphoridae, Glyptodontinae
- When: ~ 2,000,000 B.C.E. to 11,000 years ago (Gelasian stage of the Pleistocene epoch to Meghalayan stage of the Holocene epoch)
- Where: Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay
- Size: Height: 4.9 feet (1.5 m) / Length: 13 feet (4 m) / Weight: ~ 1.91 to 2.37 U.S. tons (1.73 to 2.15 metric tons)
- Diet: Herbivore
Doedicurus belonged to a group of large, heavily armored ankylosaurian-like mammals called the glyptodonts. Like other glyptodonts,
Doedicurus had an armored shell made from tightly fitted scutes that grew to surround its body. This shell was most strongly fixed around the pelvis, with the shoulders retaining a degree of independent mobility while still being covered by the shell. While
Doedicurus could not withdraw its head into this shell, the head still had bony armor growths that afforded it additional protection from predators. The tail of
Doedicurus also had an additional covering of bone that was more flexible than the main shell. The really special adaptation of the tail however was the spiked club on the end, with the flexible armor covering of the upper tail allowing
Doedicurus to swing this club from side to side. The tail club of
Doedicurus seems to have been for intraspecific combat between two competing individuals, possibly males looking to attain mating rights over a female. Strong evidence for this behavior comes from damage on the body shells of some
Doedicurus specimens that match the general size and structure of
Doedicurus tail club spikes. The scenario would see two
Doedicurus squaring off against each other in a side by side head to tail orientation, and then hitting each other in the sides of their bodies with their spiked clubs. An additional theory for the tail club has been that of predator defense, although when examined in more detail it seems unlikely that a single
Doedicurus could have effectively used this club against a predator. The main problem here is that because of the large body shell,
Doedicurus could not see behind itself to target an attacking predator. An alternative could be if
Doedicurus lived in groups and when attacked clustered facing together and all sweeping their tails in unison to create an intimidating living wall of armor and swinging clubs. A secondary hump is also present on top of
Doedicurus's back, and this has been suggested by paleontologists as a fat reserve similar to a camels. This species inhabited woodlands and grasslands.
Picture and Information Resources:
Sorry UngulatedNerd, it's not that I don't want to include the holotype information, it's just that for some species it's very hard to find. In the future, I'll include this information when it more easily available.
