4-legged dinosaur with spikes on back was extinct 66 million years ago. Alas, we can’t see them and nobody has seen them because the human was not living 66 million years ago on the Earth. Today’s article is on a 4-legged dinosaur with spikes on back.
This 4-legged dinosaur with spikes on back is Stegosaurus. Stegosaurus was a 4-legged dinosaur with spikes on back who lives around 150 million years ago. This 4-legged dinosaur with spikes on back Stegosaurus’s fossils was first found in the United States and Portugal.
4-Legged Dinosaur with Spikes on Back (Stegosaurus):
Stegosaurus was an herbivore from the family of Stegosauridae. Stegosaurus has small teeth specially designed for eating grass and plants, not the flesh. Stegosaurus lived with Diplodocus, Apatosaurus, Ceratosaurus, and Brachiosaurus. Stegosaurus was mostly the prey for Allosaurus and Torvosaurus.
Stegosaurus was a big dinosaur which has a size of a bus. They are considered to be 21 to 30 feet in length and weighed about 2 tons. It has two bony plates on its back.
Stegosaurus’s body is very large as compared to its head. It has a short head with a small head. This structure helps them to eat from the low-lying bushes and fallen fruits. This 4-legged dinosaur with spikes on back had a very small brain as compared to the body size.
Kenneth Carpenter, Director of Eastern Prehistoric Museum Utah, told about Stegosaurus:
“Its brain had the size and shape of a bent hotdog.”
Scientists have found three to four species of Stegosaurus through fossils. Stegosaurus Ungulatus was the biggest species from the family of Stegosauridae. Stegosaurus is also known as “Roofed-Lizard”. This is due to the belief that his plates lay flat along its back like shingles on a roof. Stegosaurus has 17 plates (Spikes).
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Spikes or Plates:
The spikes were made of a bony material with a lattice structure known as Osteoderms. There were blood vessels in the spikes which are suggested as for the temperature regulation. Stegosaurus had spiked over the whole back except for the head. There are also small spikes on the back of the tail. Their tail held high in the air. Their forelimbs were very shorter than the hind limbs.
The function of Spikes:
The function and the spikes are considered to be protected from predators to be safe. Their plates are also considered for displaying it to another dinosaur. Stegosaurus release heat from their plates to maintain the temperature. The plates are also considered to work as solar panels to store energy from the sun.
Species of Stegosaurus:
There are three well-known species of a stegosaurus. Many names were assigned to stegosaurus species and many related dinosaurs were considered to be the species of stegosaurus but there are three main species of a stegosaurus.
Stegosaurus Ungulatus:
Stegosaurus ungulates are considered to be the biggest stegosaurus from the family of stegosauridae. It is also known as a “hoofed roof lizard”. Ungulatus was discovered with 8 spikes.
Stegosaurus Stenops:
Stenops mean “narrow-faced roofed lizards”. This species was named by Marsh with the holotype collected by Marshall Fetch in 1886. This species is shorter than other species of a stegosaurus with a height of 23ft.
Stegosaurus sulcatus:
It means “furrowed roof lizard”. It was considered to be the synonym of armatus which has proven wrong. It had unique spikes starting from the shoulder.
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Her you can watch some facts of this 4-legged dinosaur with spikes on back:
Role in Film Industry:
Stegosaurus is one of the most popular dinosaurs among others. If you have seen some dinosaur movies, you must have seen Stegosaurus as a 4-legged dinosaur with spikes on back because many movies have taken them because of their attractive structure. As stegosaurus is the most better-known dinosaur, they had taken to many movies.
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