Ugly Dinosaurs
Much like crocodiles, Lizards or other reptiles dinosaurs are not considered to be particularly attractive to most people, We think they are of course, but we are pretty biased here at dinosaurfactsforkids.com.
However even in the world of the dinosaurs with all that armor, spikes, horns and teeth, there were certainly some ugly dinosaurs that stood out from the rest. We take a look at some of the ugliest dinosaurs here in this article,
1. Stygimoloch
| Dinosaur Name | How Heavy (kg & lbs.) | How Long (m & ft) | When it Lived (MYA) | Where it Lived |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stygimoloch | Unknown | 1.8 m (5.9 ft) | Late Cretaceous | North America |
Stygimoloch was a small, pachycephalosaur dinosaur, and probably a junior pachycephalosaurs. though it certainly didn’t get much prettier when it got older ( if this turns out to be the case) its bony, spiky and lumpy head showed that there are worse things than teenage spots that’s for sure! It lived during the late Cretaceous period in what is now North America.
While it was characterized by its large, bony dome on its head, unlike teenage acne it didn’t grow out of these it grew into them, showing that even though most animals are cute when they are younger, some are just born ugly and stay that way.
While not the ugliest dinosaur on this list, it deserves a place, we think, as it was born a ugly dinosaur that didn’t get much prettier later! it was slightly less ugly when it was even Younger, but still no beauty pageant winner. At that stage it was known as a Dracorex which you can read more about here.
2. Masiakasaurus
| Dinosaur Name | How Heavy (kg & lbs) | How Long (m & ft) | When it Lived (MYA) | Where it Lived |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masiakasaurus | Unknown | 1.5 m (4.9 ft) | Late Cretaceous | Madagascar |
Masiakasaurus was a small, carnivorous dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Madagascar. Although it was pretty much the same shape, and even size, as other carnivores throughout the dinosaur world there were a few things that get it on to the Ugliest dinosaur list.
It was characterized by its large, curved teeth that while useful in spearing fish and smaller animals ready to eat, they stuck forward giving it a bucktooth look like a rabbit, but with sharp spikey teeth instead.
useful those teeth may have been, Pretty they were certainly not!
3. Isisaurus
| Dinosaur Name | How Heavy (kg & lbs.) | How Long (m & ft) | When it Lived (MYA) | Where it Lived |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isisaurus | 30,000 kg (66,000 lbs) | 18 m (59ft) | Late Cretaceous | India |
Although Isiasaurus is not at first glance a particularly ugly dinosaur, when you take a closer look it starts to look a little, well, off. it was discovered to have had really powerful front legs and smaller back legs. although other dinosaurs have had this, like brachiosaurus, it hasn’t been to this degree.
Although we have dinosaurs named after the giraffe ( Giraffatitan) Isiasaurus appeared to resemble them more, but only if that giraffe had been heading to the gym and every day was arm day! that’s why we put it on our ugly dinosaur list.
4. Pegomastax
| Dinosaur Name | How Heavy (kg & lbs) | How Long (m & ft) | When it Lived (MYA) | Where it Lived |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pegomastax | not a lot | 1 m (3.3 ft) | Early Jurassic | Africa |
Pegomastax was a small, herbivorous dinosaur that lived during the Early Jurassic period in what is now Africa. Although it was a herbivore it had two sharp fangs that stuck up from its jaw giving it quick a unique look. especially as they were in a beak shaped mouth.
While feathers on dinosaurs have been suggested to be anything from a compete covering of shiny colorful fathers, to sporadic patches, the Pegomastax had bristles, tough bristles covering its body. That with those teeth get it a place on our ugliest dinosaur list. Think of it like a 3 foot shaved parrot with teeth!
However, these adaptations, as useful as they were, made Pegomastax a rather ugly dinosaur with a face only its mother would love – if they stayed around long enough that is.
5. Dimorphodon
| Dinosaur Name | How Heavy (kg & lbs) | How Long (m & ft) | When it Lived (MYA) | Where it Lived |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dimorphodon | Unknown | 1.5 m (4.9 ft) | Early Jurassic | Europe |
Dimorphodon was a small, flying reptile that lived during the Early Jurassic period in what is now Europe. It was characterized by its large, toothed jaws and small, triangular head, while it wasn’t a dinosaur we are still including it in our list of ugly dinosaurs for reasons we will explain below,
While there were plenty of Pterosaurs with large heads and big jaws that look quite elegant, Dimorphodon certainly didn’t. Its head, and there is really no other way to describe it, looked like a small T-rex had had its head removed and put on a Pterosaurs body.
So while it was not a dinosaur, that dinosaur shaped head certainly raises suspicions! and it was certainly not the prettiest of either pterosaurs or dinosaurs!
6. Marthodon
| Dinosaur Name | How Heavy (kg & lbs.) | How Long (m & ft) | When it Lived (MYA) | Where it Lived |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marthodon | Unknown | 5 m (16 feet) | Late Jurassic | Europe |
While Marthodon is certainly not a pretty dinosaur, but then what were, it is often touted as the ugliest of all dinosaurs. we think while it is definitely an ugly dinosaur making it the ugliest is a little harsh. It lived during the Late Jurassic period in what is now Europe.
What made it ugly were the scissors shaped teeth it had in its mouth, which gave it a rather flat and chisel shaped head. other than that it was not particularly high in the ugly stakes, just don’t ask it to smile!
We have affectionately? Named this dinosaur Martha Scissor Face due to those teeth though!
7. Incisivosaurus
| Dinosaur Name | How Heavy (kg & lbs.) | How Long (m & ft) | When it Lived (MYA) | Where it Lived |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Incisivosaurus | 2–4.6 kg (4.4–10 lbs.) | 0.8–1 meter (2.6–3.3 feet | Early Cretaceous | China |
Incisivosaurus was a small, feathered dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous period in what is now China. As you can probably work out from the name, it is named after its rather prominent front teeth that stuck out from it mouth like an oversized rabbit!
This buck toothed look while definitely useful to eat all those plants was not a beauty accessory, unless you happen to be another Incisivosaurus of course! then the bigger the teeth the more attractive you are!
8. Nigersaurus
| Dinosaur Name | How Heavy (kg & lbs.) | How Long (m & ft) | When it Lived (MYA) | Where it Lived |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nigersaurus | 600 kg (1323 lbs.) | 10 m (33 ft) | 112-97 MYA | Africa |
Nigersaurus was a long-necked, herbivorous dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Africa. It was a sauropod, and although its body, mostly, resembled the other members of the sauropod family, this similarity stopped when we got to the Nigersaurus head.
Its shape was much flatter than any other sauropod, it had to be to contain the over 500 teeth in its mouth. this would have given it a very wide, flat and vacuum shaped mouth and although not pretty, and always found on the list of the ugly dinosaurs, we bet it had a killer smile!!
those 500 teeth and its rake shaped mouth may not have been good looking, but they were certainly a lot of help with getting food down that long neck, it is thought it was a low browser – means eats food growing on the ground or in shorter bushes, unlike its high browsing tree eating cousins.
9. Amargasaurus
| Dinosaur Name | How Heavy (kg & lbs) | How Long (m & ft) | When it Lived (MYA) | Where it Lived |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amargasaurus | 4-7 tons (8818-15432 lbs.) | 12 m (39 ft) | 112-97 MYA | South America |
Amargasaurus was a sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now South America. It was characterized by long spines along its neck and back, which might have served as a display structure for courtship or defense.
While we don’t know the exact reason why Amargasaurus had those spines along its back we do know they would have made it look weird, for a sauropod, at best, and if they looked anything like some of the images out there, including the one above, downright ugly!.
Whether the ridges on the Amargasaurus was a large sail, or if they were actually spikes, we don’t think that Fred Flintstone could not have surfed down that Sauropods neck that’s for sure!
10. The Vulture
Here we are going to cheat, jsut a little, as a gentle nudge that all dinosaurs did not go extinct 66 million years ago, smaller ones evolved into something we see every day – the birds.
now while there are plenty, to us, of beautiful birds, there are some to our eye that perhaps are less beautiful. the top of many of those lists is the Vulture! Which with its hooked beak, bald neck and the fact that it eats carrion makes it perhaps not as pretty as a colorful nectar eating humming bird for example!
So while what we at first glance think of as dinosaurs are extinct, their relatives live on both the beautiful and the less so!
We also have an article on the cutest dinosaurs if you want the other end of the story as well!
Conclusion
while no dinosaur is going to win prizes in a beauty pageant there were some that were less pleasing on the eye than others. Dinosaurs like the Masiakasaurus with long curved teeth, the incisivosaurus with its rabbit type teeth and the Amargasaurus with its sail or spiked neck certainly would count as some of the ugly dinosaurs.
however, all of these dinosaurs filled a niche in their environments, and the fact that they were so successful for millions of years shows that while we may think of them as ugly dinosaurs, other dinosaurs certainly didn’t!
References
- https://www.alphr.com/science/1007498/this-ugly-dinosaur-had-giant-scissor-like-teeth/
- https://dinopedia.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000100905
- https://www.thoughtco.com/ugliest-dinosaurs-1092442
- https://svpow.com/2009/08/13/how-shortweird-was-isisaurus/
Hi, I am Roy Ford a General Studies and English Teacher who has taught all over the world. What started as a fossil collection became a great way to teach, motivate and inspire students of all ages and all over the world about dinosaurs and from that and children’s love of dinosaurs came the site dinosaur facts for kids, a resource for all ages.
