Stegosaurus

## Stegosaurus stenops

Stegosaurus is a large herbivorous dinosaur from Late Jurassic North America. A member of the stegosauridae family, Stegosaurus and its relatives such as Kentrosaurus, Dacentrus and Lexovisaurus, were common in the Jurassic period, but became very rare in the early years of the Cretaceous, with only one species of Cretaceous stegosaur found so far, the Chinese Wuerhosaurus. No stegosaurids lasted into the later Cretaceous for, currently, unknown reasons. Stegosaurus is the largest of the stegosauird family, instantly recognizable by the large flat bony plates across its back and four spikes on its tail. Stegosaurus is a relatively common species to find in the Morrison Formation, with only several well preserved specimens found, though for a while for much of 19th century, finds of Stegosaurus fossils were scarce and its true appearance was unknown until 1891 when the first complete skeleton was unearthed. The function of the plates has been a mystery for scientists and its still uncertain what they were used for. Theories range from defensive features to make the dinosaur seem larger and more intimidating, to acting almost like solar panels and absorbing warmth from sunlight, to courtship displays. The spikes on the tail were most certainly for defense though against predators.

Compared to other stegosaurs, Stegosaurus appears to be something of an extreme compared to the majority of its family. Most other stegosaurids, such as the Tanzanian Kentrosaurus, Lexovisaurus and Dacentrurus of Europe and many Chinese species such as Chialingosaurus have smaller, more pointed pairs of aligned plates, as opposed to Stegosaurus' large and wide plates in a staggered arrangement. Stegosaurids similar to Stegosaurus include the Cretaceous Wuerhosaurus, its close relative Hesperosaurus and possibly the unusual long necked Miargaia from Portugal, however this last example is known from scant fossil evidence.

Stegosaurus shared its environment with Hesperosaurus. Until the discovery of this smaller species, it was believed Stegosaurus was the only stegosaurid of the Morrison formation. Living alongside these armoured dinosaurs were many massive species of sauropods such as Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus, Apatosaurus, Camarasaurus and Barosaurus, the ornithopods Camptosaurus, Fruitadens and Dryosaurus and the primitive ankylosaur Gargoyleosaurus. Carnivores in this formation included Torvosaurus, Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Ornitholestes, Coelurus and Stokesosaurus. The main threats to Stegosaurus would have been Allosaurus and Torvosaurus. which were large and powerful enough to tackle adults and fast enough to chase them down. The smaller Ceratosaurus, Stokeosaurus and Ornitholestes would have been a threat to hatchling and juiviline Stegosaurs, while Coelurus may have been too small to be a threat to. Stegosaurus was a low browser and had typical ornithopod chewing features; with densely packed teeth at the back of its jaws for grinding down tough plant material and with cheek pouches to store plant material before chewing.

Stegosaurus is one of the most famous and popular dinosaurs in the world, having been depicted in drawings, books and movies for over a century and more recently in video games. A herd of Stegosaurus is guaranteed to delight many visitors both old and young and will be a highlight of any tour.

### Stegosaurus' History in Mesozoica

Stegosaurus has always been with the game since the beginning and has been a central point in the game's history and marketing. It also has the most Kickstarter Backer skins of any other creature at 3 skins.

## Skins

"Earthy Brown""Tribal Yellow""Vintage""New Years Wonder""Magma""Leaf Green"