Stegosaurus is one of the most well-known dinosaurs. Their images can be seen in movies, cartoons, comics or toys. Stegosaurus is a huge herbivorous dinosaur that lived in the late Jurassic period. It is one of the most famous dinosaurs. Its most distinctive appearance feature is a row of triangular bone plates on its back and four tails. A dangerous tail with four spikes to defend itself from predators. It is about 7-9 meters long, 2.35-3.5 meters high, and weighs 2-4 tons.
A well-preserved skull obtained in the 1880s showed that Stegosaurus had a very small brain, possibly the smallest of all dinosaurs. In fact, when an animal weighs more than 4.5 tons, its brain weight will not exceed 80 grams. This phenomenon led people in the past to think that dinosaurs were rather stupid animals, but this idea has been widely rejected.
1. Appearance characteristics of Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus has a pointed beak like a bird. There are no teeth in the beak, but there are some small teeth on both sides of the mouth. Stegosaurus has 17 plate-like bones on its back and a long spine at the tip of its tail. These spines are 4 feet long. The front legs of Stegosaurus were shorter than the hind legs, with five toes on the front legs and three on the hind legs. Stegosaurus walked on 4 legs.
The giant Stegosaurus had a very small head and a brain smaller than that of a small dog. Scientists believe that they were very stupid dinosaurs. Stegosaurus is a typical herbivorous dinosaur. The total length is 7 meters. If the height of the bone plate is included, the height can reach 3.5 meters. The whole body is like an elephant, but there is only a pitifully small head, and the brain is only the size of a walnut.
Stegosaurus had 4 legs, with 3 toes on their hind feet and 5 on their front feet. All limbs are supported by the soles of the feet located behind the toes. Stegosaurus' hind feet were longer and stronger than its front feet, making its posture lower in front and higher in back. Their tails are significantly higher than the ground, while their heads are relatively close to the ground and can be no more than 1 meter above the ground. This shows that they cannot walk very fast because the steps of the hind limbs are limited by the forelimbs, and the fastest is about 6 to 7 kilometers per hour.
2. Discovery of the origin of Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus was named by O'Neill Charles Marsh after the discovery of the original Stegosaurus, and the remains of Stegosaurus's ancestors are still sparse, so the origins of Stegosaurus are currently unknown. Stegosaurus was one of the first dinosaurs to be collected and described. Paleontologists around the world have been studying Stegosaurus for more than 100 years, during which time most of the Stegosaurus fossils discovered were fragmented. In 1886, a perfect Stegosaurus skull skeleton was discovered in Colorado, USA. Since then, the complete skeleton of Stegosaurus has never "surfaced." In 1980, a stegosaurus named "Taibai Huayanglong" was discovered in Dashanpu, Zigong City, Sichuan Province. In addition to several skeletons, it also included two intact skulls. The emergence of Huayang Dragon has far-reaching significance.
Fossils of Stegosaurus have been found in Europe, North America, East Africa and East Asia. Among them, Asia has the most discovered species and can be regarded as its birthplace. Most of the stegosaurs in Asia are found in my country. So far, 9 different species have been discovered, accounting for half of the world's known total, making China the country with the richest stegosaur fossils in the world, and representing 5 different evolutionary stages. Stegosaurus fossils, especially the discovery of primitive types from the Early and Middle Jurassic in my country, provide important fossil basis for the theory that East Asia is the birthplace and main evolutionary center of stegosaurs.
On March 9, 2015, the United States discovered the world's most complete Stegosaurus skeleton: it weighed 1,600 kilograms when it died.
According to news on March 7, 2022, it was learned from the Chongqing Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau that the oldest stegosaurus fossil in Asia was discovered in Chongqing, adding new evidence to the theory of the Chinese origin of stegosaurus. "Research shows that it lived 169 million years ago and is one of the four oldest stegosaurs in the world.
3. Life habits of Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus and similar dinosaurs are herbivorous, but their feeding strategies are different from other herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs. Stegosaurus' teeth lacked flat surfaces that prevented them from closing together, and their jaws couldn't move horizontally. Paleontologists believe that their diet included mosses, ferns, horsetails, cycads, conifers, and some fruits. And it is believed that Stegosaurus could only eat food 1 meter above the ground.
Fossil footprints of stegosaurs found in Colorado show they lived in groups. One group of footprint fossils shows 4 to 5 juvenile stegosaurs moving in the same direction, while another group of footprint fossils shows a juvenile individual and an adult individual moving together.
4. Stegosaurus’ film and television works
Stegosaurus has appeared in many movies and often fought with large carnivorous dinosaurs.
Fighting Ceratosaurus in the 1954 movie Journey to the Beginning of Time.
Fighting a Tyrannosaurus Rex in the 1978 movie Planet of Dinosaurs.
In the 1940 Disney animated film "Fantasia", the spiked tail was used for the first time as a defensive action.
It also appeared in the 1933 classic movie "King Kong".
"The Lost World", "Jurassic Park", "Dinosaur Age", "Dances with Dinosaurs", "Mystery of the Allosaurus", "Jurassic Fight Club"
Stegosaurus has also appeared in many children's programs or animations, such as "The Adventures of Dinosaurs" and "Power Rangers".
Stegosaurus also appeared in the 2009 film Ice Age 3, but was incorrectly depicted in the film as walking on two legs similar to Parasaurolophus.
Stegosaurus is one of the three dinosaur images that Toho Co., Ltd. composed when creating the Japanese monster Godzilla. The other two are Iguanodon and Tyrannosaurus.
animal tags： Ornithischia Stegosauridae Stegosaurus Jurassic Fossil
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