New fossils from the Middle Atlas Mountains in Morocco have revealed that the spiked tail weapons characteristic of ankylosaur dinosaurs evolved significantly earlier than previously believed. These newly discovered remains, belonging to the species *Spicomellus afer* and dated to approximately 165 million years ago, represent the oldest known ankylosaur fossils globally. The fossils include spiked ribs up to one meter long and parts of a neck half-ring, indicating that these armored herbivores were heavily protected by spikes, some fused directly to their skeleton. The research, a collaboration between palaeontologists and geologists from the UK, Morocco, and the US, suggests that ankylosaur armor likely served a dual purpose of defense and display early in its evolutionary history, pushing back the timeline for complex defensive adaptations within this group by millions of years.