Stegosaurus

* In Ark: Survival Evolved
* In Real Life

*Stegosaurus Regium has approximately 16 paired rows of plates along its back, flanked by another, smaller pair of 6 plates. This is contrary to the alternating rows of Stegosaurus fossils found in museums. I've encountered Stegosaurus in varying amounts, almost everywhere on the island.*
*Not surprisingly, Stegosaurus uses the spines on its tail to defend itself. While not aggressive, Stegosaurus will come to the aid of other nearby Stegosaurus. This implies it to be a herd animal.*
*Domesticated*
*Commonly used as a safe way to transport large quantities of goods. The plates of the Stegosaurus Regium double as a cover against the arrows of attackers. Unfortunately, they also make it harder to load and unload some cargo.*

The **Stegosaurus** or **Stego** is a large sized herbivorous dinosaur found on the Ark.

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## Appearance

The Stegosaurus appears as a large quadrupedal herbivore with distinctive plates on its back, which are often vibrantly colored. The dinosaur also possesses 3 pairs of spikes on the end of its long tail, and has a small head tipped with a beak as well as a few grinding teeth.

## Behavior

While not aggressive by default, Stegosaurus will attack by swinging their spiked tails when provoked. Caution is advised when hunting them.

## Location

Can be found in the plains, mountain regions, close to beaches, and on some of the islands.

## Trivia

* Can be very effective at harvesting berries from Plants by swiping its tail across the ground.
* Can also harvest small amounts of Wood and Thatch.
* Cannot harvest Fiber.
* A trick for transporting vast quantities of goods is to have two people, one to ride the Stegosaurus, while the other sits on its back just behind the saddle. The weight of the second person does not contribute to the weight the stegosaurus is carrying, but the player still moves. This allows for quite a lot more carrying capacity as usual which is especially useful for metal trips to mountains.
* In gameplay, Stegosaurus is effectively a larger Triceratops, as it shares many of Triceratops' traits and abilities, albeit on a larger scale.
* Can be picked up by a Quetzalcoatlus.
* Don't be fooled into expecting it to be faster than the Brontosaurus; it may seem that way, being smaller, but its sprint is actually barely half as fast as the larger creature.

### Trivia not relevant for the game

* Although Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus appear together often fighting or living, there is a larger time gap between their genus than there is between the T.rex and humans, thus making it more accurate to show humans and T.rex living together than Stegosaurus and T.rex
* The spiked arrangement on the end of Stegosaurus' tail is called a thagomizer. The term, unlike many scientific terms, was coined in 1982 by cartoonist Gary Larson, in his comic, "The Far Side", and was said to be named after the late Thag Simmons. The term was then picked up and used 11 years after by Ken Carpenter, and has gradually been adopted as an informal anatomical term, even used by the Smithsonian Institution.
* The real-world Stegosaurus could only reach a maximum length of 9 meters, far below the in-game dinosaur's 15 meters.
* If judged by its Brain-to-body mass ratio Stegosaurus might possibly be the dumbest dinosaur in terms of intelligence.