Stegosaurus stenops (Narrow-Faced Roofed Lizard)

While not the largest species of Stegosaurus, S. stenops is the best understood and the first known to science ever since it was first discovered in Colorado in 1887, during the era of American paleontology that was the “Bone Wars”. Over a century later, Stegosaurus remains one of the most popular dinosaurs. However, while Stegosaurus is a favorite dinosaur of many, it is also a genus riddled with popular misconception. To explore this, a tour of all 23’ of the dinosaur from tiny head to spiked tail is in order. Starting with the skull, the relatively diminutive size of the braincase has owed much to the rejected idea that dinosaurs were unintelligent animals marching helplessly to their own extinction. Stegosaurus was no idiot, it was just simple. It knew what it needed to know as a slow-moving herbivore. Moving on to the iconic rows of plates along the back, while popular ideas include defensive and thermoregulatory functions; they were in reality likely used as a colorful visual display for attracting mates and differentiating between species. Nevertheless, Stegosaurus was by no means a defenseless animal and it is thought the spiked tail (nicknamed the “Thagomizer”) could be swung with surprising swiftness and devastating power. Stegosaurus has been starring in pop culture for over a century, where it is often portrayed as the arch-rival of Tyrannosaurus rex, though this is perhaps the most egregious Stegosaur fallacy of them all, as the real life T. rex lived during the late Cretaceous and Stegosaurus lived during the late Jurassic. Stegosaurus’ true rival was the Allosaurus, who’s fossils have been found with punctured vertebrate - the holes in which accommodate Stegosaurus tail spikes perfectly.