🦖 Dinosaurs🛡️ Thyreophoran (armoured)JurassicIconic

Stegosaurus

Stegosaurus stenops

It is one of the most recognisable armoured dinosaurs and a characteristic herbivore of the Late Jurassic.

Image: Susannah Maidment et al. & Natural History Museum, London · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Loading map textures; the previous reconstruction stays visible...

Sites on today's globe · 1 marker

Characteristics

Scientific name: Stegosaurus stenops
Period: Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian–Tithonian)
Lived: 155–150 Ma (155 million years ago)
Diet: Herbivore
Habitat: Plains, Forest
Length (estimate): 7 m
Mass (estimate): 3,000 kg

Description

Stegosaurus was a large quadruped with two rows of upright plates along its back and two pairs of spikes at the end of its tail. The plates had many blood vessels, but their roles in temperature regulation, recognition or display have not been established. A small head bore teeth suited to processing plant material. The tail spikes could have been used in defence; injuries have been described in some related fossil finds.

Habitat

Open woodlands and floodplains in the western United States.

Fossil sites

Morrison Formation, Colorado
Morrison Formation
Cultural profile: United States →

Famous finds

Iconic fossil
Sophie the Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus · NHMUK PV R36730
Found in 2003 by Bob Simon
Red Canyon Ranch near Shell, Wyoming
Museum: Natural History Museum, London
The best-preserved Stegosaurus skeleton ever found: 85 per cent complete, with 360 bones. It was discovered in Wyoming in 2003, excavated by the Swiss Sauriermuseum and now stands in London.
Stegosaurus →
Image: Susannah Maidment et al. & Natural History Museum, London · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Sources: Wikipedia: Stegosaurus

Contemporaries in the database

Sources: Stegosaurus

← Prehistory & Palaeontology

🦖 Dinosaurs🛡️ Thyreophoran (armoured)JurassicIconic

Stegosaurus

Stegosaurus stenops

It is one of the most recognisable armoured dinosaurs and a characteristic herbivore of the Late Jurassic.

Image: Susannah Maidment et al. & Natural History Museum, London · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Loading map textures; the previous reconstruction stays visible...

Sites on today's globe · 1 marker

Characteristics

Scientific name: Stegosaurus stenops
Period: Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian–Tithonian)
Lived: 155–150 Ma (155 million years ago)
Diet: Herbivore
Habitat: Plains, Forest
Length (estimate): 7 m
Mass (estimate): 3,000 kg

Description

Habitat

Open woodlands and floodplains in the western United States.

Fossil sites

Morrison Formation, Colorado
Morrison Formation
Cultural profile: United States →

Famous finds

Iconic fossil
Sophie the Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus · NHMUK PV R36730
Found in 2003 by Bob Simon
Red Canyon Ranch near Shell, Wyoming
Museum: Natural History Museum, London
The best-preserved Stegosaurus skeleton ever found: 85 per cent complete, with 360 bones. It was discovered in Wyoming in 2003, excavated by the Swiss Sauriermuseum and now stands in London.
Stegosaurus →
Image: Susannah Maidment et al. & Natural History Museum, London · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Sources: Wikipedia: Stegosaurus

Contemporaries in the database

Sources: Stegosaurus

Characteristics

Description

Habitat

Fossil sites

Famous finds

Sophie the Stegosaurus

Contemporaries in the database

Characteristics

Description

Habitat

Fossil sites

Famous finds

Sophie the Stegosaurus

Contemporaries in the database