Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus stenops
ok. 7 mAdult individual · rekonstrukcja
Body length
Body length
wzdłuż osi ciała · od pyska do końca ogonaMeasurement: side
- Mass · szacunek
- No estimateSzacunki kopalne
Stegosaurus — size comparison
Stegosaurus was a four-legged herbivore of Late Jurassic North America. It had a small head, a high arched back and large bony plates in two alternating rows. L
Silhouette comparison
Length
wzdłuż osi ciała · od pyska do końca ogonaReconstructed measurements · fossil estimates
Body lengthScale in m
02468
approx. 7 m
The scale compares the named dimensions. View direction and measurement points are given for each animal.
Stegosaurus — size comparison — facts and sources
Stegosaurus was a four-legged herbivore of Late Jurassic North America. It had a small head, a high arched back and large bony plates in two alternating rows. Long spikes tipped the muscular tail. The plates were embedded in the skin and often separated from the skeleton after death.
It fed on vegetation relatively close to the ground. The spiked tail could repel large predators, and injuries to other dinosaurs’ bones help researchers investigate such encounters. Plate function is less certain: display, recognition and heat exchange may all have played roles.
The well-preserved Stegosaurus stenops skeleton called Sophie enabled new analyses of anatomy, mass and movement. Earlier ideas of plates lying flat along the back gave way to reconstructions with upright plates.