Stegosaurus

Characteristics ~ ~ ~ ~

Everyone loves Stegosaurus except for people of the 1900s who thought it was the most grotesque animal to have ever lived. Walking quadrupedally with hindlimbs that were longer than its forelimbs and a curved back that let its tail hang upward. Stegosaurus was massive, the largest of its genus, reaching heights of 13 feet tall and lengths of 9 meters long. It had 17 to 22 plates roofing the skin on its back that were made of ossified bone and covered in a layer of keratin. The largest plates were placed along the hip and could reach 24 by 24 inches as they decrease in size approaching the head and the thagomizer. They were used for defense, protecting their back, neck, and tail from carnivores, supported in the fossil record by a plate that has been gnawed on by Allosaurus. The keratin layer on the plates may have sharp edges to further prevent predator attacks. As well as being for display, likely having bright colors leading to males with the largest and brightest plates were most likely to attract a mate. A thagomizer is the official name for the pairs of tail spikes on Stegosaurs. The 2 pairs of spikes that reached 2 feet in length were undeniably a weapon, swinging spikes into predators like Allosaurus, which has been found with a thagomizer spike lodged within a tail vertebrae. As you have noticed Stegosaurus and Allosaurus had a fierce rivalry with both being found with Injuries caused by one another. Stegosaurus had a very small head relative to its body leading to its intelligence being less than admirable only having a brain the size of a walnut and an encephalization quotient of 0.5; early paleontologists thought that it must have had a second brain within its tail or *rectum* to make up for this shortcoming however that is obviously not the case. Stegosaurus is likely the most popular dinosaur from the Morrison formation which already has many famous dinosaurs like: Ceratosaurus, Camarasaurus, Brachiosaurus, Apatosaurus, and Dryosaurus. Stegosaurus had a hard time at the end of the Jurassic period with the newly evolved Nodosaurs and Ankylosaurs, which had higher intelligence, more developed senses, and better-adapted armor that covered more of the body. So by the Early Cretaceous, the Stegosaurus's last relative Wuerhosaurus, went extinct 135.2 million years ago. Other popular stegosaurs are the long-necked Mirigaia, the Chinese Huayangosaurus, the tiny Chungkingosaurus, Gigantspinosaurus and its Gigantic shoulder blades, and Kentrosaurus.

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History & Fossils ~ ~ ~ ~

Media Deptictions ~ ~ ~ ~

Jurassic Park: The Lost World Upon receiving fan mail from a child disappointed that his favorite dinosaur stegosaurus, wasn't in Jurassic Park. Although it was in the Jurassic Park novel being the sick dinosaur instead of the Triceratops The Stegosaurus was the first dinosaur in the Lost World, they are massive in their debut scene, at certain angles they look twice as large as their real-life counterparts. Stegosaurus appears almost everywhere else in the franchise since it's such an iconic animal. I wish the design was updated it feels terribly dated.

Walking With Dinosaurs Featured in both Jurassic episodes. In one, it’s thought that stegosaurus could flush their plates with blood to make them brighter and more intimidating but this has been debunked. The Animals are close minded and rather aggressive with one scene it impales a baby Diplodocus for getting too close to it.

Species Field Guide Stegosaurus

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