Stegosaurus

Stegosaurus was a plant-eating dinosaur with two rows of bony plates on its back and a spiked tail for protection. It lived long before T. rex in the Jurassic Period.

STEGOSAURUS

COMMON NAME: Stegosaurus

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Stegosaurus stenops

TYPE: Dinosaur (stegosaur)

DIET: Herbivore

GROUP NAME: Herd

WHEN IT LIVED: Late Jurassic (about 155 to 145 million years ago)

WHERE IT LIVED: Western North America

SIZE: About 26 to 30 feet long

WEIGHT: About 3 to 5 tons

Plates and Spikes

The tall plates on Stegosaurus may have helped it stay cool or show off to others. Its tail had sharp spikes called a thagomizer, which it could swing to defend itself.

Close-up of the spiked tail used for defense. Image Credit: Dan121377, Wikimedia Commons

A Jurassic Plant-Eater

Stegosaurus likely ate low plants like ferns and shrubs. It had a small head, so it probably spent a lot of time grazing.

Stegosaurus clues: Jurassic plants, fossil footprints, plate patterns, and a fossil quarry. Image Credits (from top left to bottom right): Duskbloom Littles (Artistic Image Rendering); James St. John, Wikimedia Commons; Jens Lallensack, Wikimedia Commons; An Errant Knight, Wikimedia Commons

Stegosaurus shows how dinosaurs evolved amazing body features to survive.