Stegosaurus Characteristics

Stegosaurus measured 30 feet (9 metres) in length, 9 feet (2.75 metres) in height and weighed 5.5 tons. It is one of the most recognisable dinosaurs with its distinctive array of triangular spine plates and spiked tail. The plates were made of bone which was not solid, but was filled with tube-like tunnels. The plates were probably well-nourished by blood vessels, indicating that the plates may have been used to regulate the dinosaurs temperature. They may have also been used for protection or mating display purposes. As even more protection, Stegosaurus had armour-like scutes on the skin of the neck, the pelvic area (the hips) and perhaps on the sides of some species.

Stegosaurus was a heavily built, arched-back dinosaur who had 2 hind limbs that were straighter than its 2 fore limbs. Stegosaurus was a quadrupedal dinosaur that had 5 short wide toes on its fore feet with hoof-like tips and 3 short wide toes with hoof-like tips on its hind feet. Its front legs appeared to sprawl out to the sides. Stegosaurus walked with its head low to the ground and its stiffened, spiked tail raised in the air. Different species of Stegosaurus had a different number of spikes on their tails, some had 8 and some had only 4 spikes. Some early Stegosaurus had shoulder spines.

Stegosaurus have a very small brain inside its small elongated head. Stegosaurus intelligence (as measured by its relative brain to body weight, or EQ) was relatively low among the dinosaurs. Its skull was long, narrow and pointed and small in proporton with its body and it had a toothless beak and small cheek teeth. Stegosaurian teeth were small and triangular and they had cheeks to keep food in their mouths while they chewed.

Stegosaurus was a herbivore and fed up on plant material. It must have eaten a huge amount of vegetation to sustain its large, bulky body. It is unsure whether Stegosaurus could have reared up onto its hind legs. If it was unable to do this, it would have been limited to low-lying plants, growing no more than 3 feet in height. Its diet would have included ferns, smaller club mosses, cycads, horsetails and bushy conifers.

Stegosaurus, like other Stegosaurians, may have been a herding animal. Possible predators of Stegosaurus would have been carnivorous predators such as Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Torvosaurus and maybe even packs of smaller meat-eaters like Ornitholestes.

There was a minor mass extinction toward the end of the Jurassic period. During this extinction, most of the stegosaurid and enormous sauropod dinosaurs died out, as did many genera of ammonoids, marine reptiles and bivalves. It is uncertain what caused this extinction.

At least 3 species of Stegosaurus have been identified in the upper Morrison Formation and are known from about 81 remains. The species are:

S. armatus - meaning 'armoured roof lizard'.

S. stenops - meaning 'narrow faced roof lizard'.

S. longispinus - meaning 'long-spined roof lizard'.

Stegosaurus, one of the many dinosaurs first collected and described in the Bone Wars, was originally named by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1877, from remains recovered north of Morrison, Colorado.

Many fossils of Stegosaurus have been found in western North America (Utah, Wyoming, and Dinosaur Ridge, Colorado), western Europe, southern India, China, and southern Africa. The first Stegosaurus fossil was found in Colorado, USA, in 1876 by M. P. Felch. Paleontologist Othniel C. Marsh named Stegosaurus in 1877. The most complete Stegosaurus yet found (nicknamed Spike) was discovered near Canon City, Colorado, USA in 1992 by Bryan Small, Tim Seeber, and Kenneth Carpenter. Only one set of Stegosaurus footprints have been found so far, and they were stolen from Western Australia in 1996.