#stegosaurus stenops

[bralebradycneme]

Was inspired to do a Stegosaurus sketch, but I've been feeling a bit unmotivated today so I saved it to be finished some other time.

[deepfriedtrips]

Out at the museum

[bisexual-biker]

Went to the dinosaur museum and unlocked a new vocal stim

[eyrri]

Vintage-y Stegosaurus stenops

[saritawolff]

Archovember Day 25: Stegosaurus stenops

One of the most famous dinosaurs and certainly the most famous stegosaurian dinosaur, Stegosaurus certainly has a recognizable silhouette.

The double row of plates on its back are its most defining feature. The number of plates vary, Stegosaurus could have had between 17 and 22 of them, and they continued growing after the animal reached its adult size. They were attached to the skin, not the bone, so its hard to tell how they were arranged on the back from fossils, but the most recent evidence shows that they possibly grew in an alternating pattern, rather than side by side. It is still unknown what they were used for: they were too fragile to be armour and not really big enough to have an effect on thermoregulation (especially if Stegosaurus was endothermic.) It is possible that they were used to attract mates, or simply just to make the animal appear larger and more threatening.

The other most defining feature is the Stegosaurus’ 4 long tail spikes: dubbed the “thagomizer” by cartoonist Gary Larson. Stegosaurus likely used these spikes for defense against predators, as wound holes fitting them have been found in Allosaurus fossils.

It also had a fairly long neck, which it used to graze on plants, perhaps even standing on its hind legs to reach low-hanging branches. It’s hind legs were longer than its front legs (though not quite as drastic as older illustrations) so it was probably a low to mid-level browser.

Stegosaurus stenops lived in the Late Jurassic United States. It is the best known of the three Stegosaurus species, though it is smaller than S. ungulatus. It lived alongside a plethora of some of the most famous sauropods: Apatosaurus, Brontosaurus, Diplodocus, Camarasaurus, Supersaurus, and Brachiosaurus, as well as the ankylosaur Gargoyleosaurus, and Neornithischians like Camptosaurus and Dryosaurus. It also lived alongside the theropods Allosaurus, Saurophaganax, Torvosaurus, and Ceratosaurus, which may have preyed on it, or at least its young, who had smaller plates and spikes.

[chaoskirin]

Sorry I haven’t been here all day. I’ve been drawing Jurassic dinosaurs.

[dinosaur-hole]

tell me bout stegosaurus fam

So, Stegosaurus is a fascinating genus of animal that lived during the Jurassic period. There are multiple species, but the only one I’ll be focusing on S. Stenops due to the fact that it’s the one most commonly portrayed in popular culture. Overall, Stegosaurus is actually a horrible example of the Stegosaur family, especially because so many of its features are exaggerated. Their heads are too small, their hips are arched so high above its head, especially when compared to other Stegosaurs.

The most recent, as far as I know, research on Stegosaurus comes from a young adult that was named Sophie. Sophie severely changed the majority of ways that paleontologists reconstruct this animal. For example, it revealed that Stegosaurus had a bite force that was about as much as a modern day cow or sheep. Which, doesn’t sound like much, but sheep and cows are specialized for grinding and chopping, which meant that Stegosaurus would have done the same.

Not only that, but Sophie ended up revealing that Stegosaurus was likely far lighter than paleontologists had initially figured. For example Sophie was likely only around 1.6 tons, or 3600 pounds. African elephants tend to weigh somewhere between 2.5 and 7 tons, if that gives you an idea of how large a sub adult Stegosaurus was!

Thanks for giving me the chance to talk about Stegosaurus - they’re fascinating animals, despite not being my favorite!

[ironhidearcee]