Sauropelta was a medium sized nodosaurid from Early Cretaceous North America. Sauropelta, despite looking like ankylosaurus, did not sport a tail club. Instead, it defended itself with its large array of osteoderms that formed the large shoulder spikes. Like other nodosaurs, Sauropelta, being about roughly the size of a modern black rhino, had a lot more of these osteoderms covering their body, but they were much smaller than their sister group Ankylosaurs.