What Does The Dinosaur Name Stegosaurus Mean ?
There are so many dinosaur names that sometimes it can be quite difficult to figure out what each name means. So, what does the dinosaur name Stegosaurus mean? Not many people know the meaning. Well, Stegosaurus means a roofed reptile. |
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The Stegosaurus is the most popular dinosaur in the Stegosauria dinosaur group. It was a plant eater and was abundant during the late Jurassic period. The reason why the Stegosaurus is popular is leaf-shaped plates that ran down its back.
In total a Stegosaurus had around 17 leaf-shaped plates running right from that tip of its head until the middle of its tail. The plates were quite large and some of them rose up to three feet. However, the plates were very delicate and nothing to protect it from meat-eating predators. Scientists believe that these leaf-shaped plates were more for controlling the body temperature. They believe that there were blood vessels in the plates which would absorb heat or release it based on the outside temperature.
The Stegosaurus had a narrow snout with mouth full of teeth that were, in fact, innumerous triangular blunt ridges. These teeth were ideally suited for the Stegosaurus' vegetarian diet.
Although the Stegosaurus did not have a full-fledged defense mechanism, it must have often used its tail to protect itself from predators. The tail had four extremely sharp spikes, which could cause serious damage if it was flicked. In addition, it was huge in size, weighing over two tons and this might have given it added protection.
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There are so many dinosaur fossils and bones being found all over the world, but what is the oldest dinosaur bone found? In October 1999, paleontologists found two jaw bones in Madagascar and these are judged to be the oldest dinosaur bones ever found. 