What Environment Did The Stegosaurus Live In ?
The stegosaurus was long thought to be native exclusively to North America. But in 2006 a fossilized partial skeleton was found in Portugal while excavating for a motorway. The remains included part of the spinal column, bones, including the thigh bone, dorsal plates and a tooth. Excavation was still underway but what was found was adequate to confirm that the skeleton was in fact that of a stegosaurus. |
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The find further supported the long-held belief that Europe and America were once connected by a series of land bridges. These supposedly surfaced when water levels fell allowing free access to animals to cross over.
The dinosaurs are thought to have roamed the earth for 185 million years when all the earth’s continents were clumped together in a common landmass. At the end of the Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago, the giant landmass started fragmenting with Europe, Africa and America drifting apart. It was at this time that water levels began to rise and fall exposing a series of land bridges.
The stegosaurus was a bizarre looking creature with an arched back and vertical plates running down its spine arranged in double rows. Twin pairs of spikes projected from its tail. It has long been thought that these appendages were weapons of defense and to dissipate body heat. This belief has always been in dispute.
The stegosaurus was a herbivorous quadruped believed to have lived on lichens, moss and other types of plant life at a low height level. This is because the head of the stegosaurus was held low since the forelimbs were short. They are supposed to have preferred a marshy, swampy environment near water perhaps because of the abundance of food in such areas.
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