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EXHIBIT 93

Pinacosaurus

Pinacosaurus

Pinacosaurus was an Asian armored plant-eater whose juvenile assemblages and preserved larynx reveal unusual details of its biology.

Evidence profile

TWO WAYS TO PICTURE THE PAST

Compare the evidence with the familiar movie image. The illustrations are not to a shared scale.

01 / SCIENTIFIC RECONSTRUCTION

An animal, reconstructed

Side-view life reconstruction of Pinacosaurus grangeri showing a low armored body, long tail and four supporting legs.

Life reconstruction of Pinacosaurus grangeri by Connor Ashbridge. Living colors, patterns, full armor layout and soft-tissue proportions are interpretive; this drawing is not a measured individual or an illustration of bonebed behavior. [4]

Life reconstruction of Pinacosaurus grangeri · Connor Ashbridge. CC BY 4.0. Commons-listed 1280 px preview converted to WebP; smaller responsive copy proportionally resized. Artwork preserved.

Scientific reconstruction is an interpretation; source credit does not certify every anatomical detail.

02 / MOVIE-STYLE INTERPRETATION

A cinematic imagination

Illustrative reconstruction of Pinacosaurus; color and soft tissues remain interpretive.

Original cinematic interpretation of Pinacosaurus grangeri. Coloration, soft tissues and scenery are artistic choices; reconstructed proportions do not establish a measured individual. Lighting, coloration and scenery are artistic choices. This image does not document a fossil locality or behavior.

Original artwork · artistic interpretation.

Scientific view: source-informed reconstruction, credited paleoart or specimen-based imagery. Movie-style view: Original artistic interpretation. Reconstructions involve uncertainty.

PERIODLate Cretaceous[5]
DIETHerbivoreEvidence and uncertainty in the dossier
TOTAL LENGTHSee the dossierEstimate scope matters
FOSSILS FOUNDMongolia, China[5]
CompareRead the dossierView the sources

MEET THE ANIMAL

Meet Pinacosaurus

Pinacosaurus was a plant-eating armored dinosaur from Late Cretaceous Mongolia and China. A museum reference of about five metres introduces its scale, but many especially informative fossils belong to young animals. Their size and anatomy should be kept separate from a general adult reconstruction. The genus supplies unusual clues about both the body and sound production. [D1]

Articulated young skeletons preserve the limbs in their connected positions. Five-fingered hands and three-toed feet help reconstruct how the animal stood on four legs. Collections of immature animals have also suggested grouping, although researchers could not determine whether those animals normally gathered or clustered during environmental stress. Their association does not establish a permanent herd structure. [D2]

A young Pinacosaurus grangeri preserves bones of the larynx, part of the throat involved in sound production. Comparison with living relatives suggests that it could modify its voice in a bird-like way. That is a functional interpretation of anatomy, not a recording of its call. The fossil cannot tell us its exact sounds or whether it used a particular call to attract a mate. [D4]

PREHISTORIC ANIMAL DOSSIER

A life in profile.

The animal, the evidence, and the questions still open.

Skull ornamentation changed during growth, complicating identification from immature fossils.

Profile scope: Genus: Pinacosaurus. Behavioral, laryngeal, cranial and mass-model evidence concerns P. grangeri; museum length is an unassigned genus reference.

Time
Late Cretaceous
Fossil locations in this exhibit
Mongolia, China
How to read the evidence

Source supported identifies a description documented by the cited source. Inferred marks a reconstruction or functional estimate. Debated marks competing interpretations. Not established means the sources reviewed for this dossier do not support a firm conclusion; it does not mean a behavior never occurred.

A size reference is an estimate, not a population range. Nesting evidence does not by itself establish courtship, mate choice, or lifelong pairing.

Length

Inferred

About 5 m (museum reference)

Genus-level educational reference, without stated specimen or maturity. It is not the approximately 2 m juveniles in the behavioral assemblages. [D1]

Mass

Inferred

About 710 kg for a 4.8 m reconstruction

Seebacher’s polynomial-volume model identifies P. grangeri, reconstructed after Carpenter (1990), but supplies no specimen number or maturity assessment. It is not an adult population range. [D6]

Diet and feeding

Source supported

Plant-eater

The museum identifies a plant diet; particular food plants are not established by this review. [D1]

Habitat and range

Source supported

Mongolia and northern China

P. grangeri occurs in Campanian Djadokhta and Wulansuhai strata. The Chinese formation includes river, lake-delta and dune deposits. [D5]

Movement

Inferred

Four-legged walking inferred

Articulated limbs, five-fingered hands and three-toed feet inform its quadrupedal reconstruction. No running speed is established. [D2]

Distinctive anatomy

Inferred

Armor and an unusually preserved larynx

Juvenile P. grangeri preserves laryngeal bones. Their comparison with living archosaurs suggests vocal modification, without identifying its actual calls. [D4]

Reproduction & life together

Reproduction and care

Not established

Not established here

Juvenile concentrations do not establish nest structure, clutch size, incubation or parental care.

Courtship and mating

Not established

Not established here

A 2026 study proposes possible sex-related skull-horn differences, but also allows individual variation; no courtship sequence is established. [D5]

Social behavior

Inferred

Juvenile clustering may reflect gregariousness

Repeated immature assemblages support grouping as a possibility. The authors could not resolve ordinary social grouping versus clustering under environmental stress. [D2]

Dossier research & sources

Sources and inspection notes for the claims in this profile.

  1. Pinacosaurus — Dino DirectoryNatural History Museum, London · Accessed 2026-10-02Genus-level 5 m and 1,000 kg educational references, plant diet and China/Mongolia occurrence; maturity and methods unspecified. · Inspected: page
  2. Hands, feet and behaviour in Pinacosaurus (Dinosauria: Ankylosauridae)Acta Palaeontologica Polonica; Currie and colleagues (2011) · Accessed 2026-10-02Article and PDF inspected: Alag Teeg immature assemblage, limb articulation, hand/foot anatomy, possible gregariousness and explicit uncertainty about ordinary versus stress-induced clustering. · Inspected: page
  3. Juvenile specimens of Pinacosaurus grangeri Gilmore, 1933 (Ornithischia: Ankylosauria) from the Late Cretaceous of China, with comments on the specific taxonomy of PinacosaurusCretaceous Research; Burns, Currie, Sissons and Arbour (2011) · Accessed 2026-10-02Publisher abstract inspected: juvenile P. grangeri from Bayan Mandahu and specific taxonomy; body sizes not used as adult measures. · Inspected: abstract
  4. An ankylosaur larynx provides insights for bird-like vocalization in non-avian dinosaursCommunications Biology; Yoshida, Kobayashi and Norell (2023) · Accessed 2026-10-02Preserved juvenile P. grangeri larynx and comparative functional interpretation inspected. Bird-like vocal modification is an inference, not a recording or preserved syrinx. · Inspected: page
  5. Cranial osteology and ontogenetic variation of the Late Cretaceous ankylosaurid dinosaur Pinacosaurus grangeriZoological Journal of the Linnean Society; Zhu, Yao, Zheng and Xu (2026), author-uploaded full text · Accessed 2026-10-02Publisher abstract and author full text inspected: nomenclature including Syrmosaurus, Chinese Campanian geological setting, juvenile/adult cranial distinctions and tentative sexual-dimorphism hypothesis. · Inspected: page
  6. A new method to calculate allometric length-mass relationships of dinosaursJournal of Vertebrate Paleontology; Seebacher (2001), author-uploaded original paper · Accessed 2026-10-02Full original Table 2 and methods inspected through author-uploaded PDF: Pinacosaurus grangeri (printed gangeri), 4.8 m reconstruction, 707.2 kg polynomial-volume estimate after Carpenter 1990. Museum specimen number and maturity are unspecified; model density/width assumptions are described. DOI 10.1671/0272-4634(2001)021[0051:ANMTCA]2.0.CO;2. · Inspected: page

THE STORY IN THE FOSSILS

Meet Pinacosaurus.

Pinacosaurus offers more than an armored silhouette. Juvenile remains preserve hands and feet in articulation, making this genus valuable for reconstructing how ankylosaurs stood and walked. [2]

Its fossil larynx provides a rare anatomical clue to sound production. The proposed vocal function does not reveal the exact sound or demonstrate a particular courtship call. [4]

A note on scale and time

The dossier identifies the scope of each reference estimate. A mount, an individual fossil and a species-wide adult range are different measurements. Comparison metrics remain unavailable where adult scope has not been established. Unknown does not mean zero.

Sources & editorial notes

Sources support the stated claims and scopes. Refer to the evidence notes for uncertainty.

  1. Pinacosaurus — Dino DirectoryNatural History Museum, London · Accessed 2026-10-02Genus-level 5 m and 1,000 kg educational references, plant diet and China/Mongolia occurrence; maturity and methods unspecified. · Inspected: page
  2. Hands, feet and behaviour in Pinacosaurus (Dinosauria: Ankylosauridae)Acta Palaeontologica Polonica; Currie and colleagues (2011) · Accessed 2026-10-02Article and PDF inspected: Alag Teeg immature assemblage, limb articulation, hand/foot anatomy, possible gregariousness and explicit uncertainty about ordinary versus stress-induced clustering. · Inspected: page
  3. Juvenile specimens of Pinacosaurus grangeri Gilmore, 1933 (Ornithischia: Ankylosauria) from the Late Cretaceous of China, with comments on the specific taxonomy of PinacosaurusCretaceous Research; Burns, Currie, Sissons and Arbour (2011) · Accessed 2026-10-02Publisher abstract inspected: juvenile P. grangeri from Bayan Mandahu and specific taxonomy; body sizes not used as adult measures. · Inspected: abstract
  4. An ankylosaur larynx provides insights for bird-like vocalization in non-avian dinosaursCommunications Biology; Yoshida, Kobayashi and Norell (2023) · Accessed 2026-10-02Preserved juvenile P. grangeri larynx and comparative functional interpretation inspected. Bird-like vocal modification is an inference, not a recording or preserved syrinx. · Inspected: page
  5. Cranial osteology and ontogenetic variation of the Late Cretaceous ankylosaurid dinosaur Pinacosaurus grangeriZoological Journal of the Linnean Society; Zhu, Yao, Zheng and Xu (2026), author-uploaded full text · Accessed 2026-10-02Publisher abstract and author full text inspected: nomenclature including Syrmosaurus, Chinese Campanian geological setting, juvenile/adult cranial distinctions and tentative sexual-dimorphism hypothesis. · Inspected: page
  6. A new method to calculate allometric length-mass relationships of dinosaursJournal of Vertebrate Paleontology; Seebacher (2001), author-uploaded original paper · Accessed 2026-10-02Full original Table 2 and methods inspected through author-uploaded PDF: Pinacosaurus grangeri (printed gangeri), 4.8 m reconstruction, 707.2 kg polynomial-volume estimate after Carpenter 1990. Museum specimen number and maturity are unspecified; model density/width assumptions are described. DOI 10.1671/0272-4634(2001)021[0051:ANMTCA]2.0.CO;2. · Inspected: page

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