When Did The Stegosaurus Die ?
The Stegosaurus also known as ‘roof lizard’ or ‘plated lizard’ was known to have existed between 165 and 140 million years ago. It was a distinctly odd looking animal with a formidable double row of plates that ran down its spine from neck to tail which terminated in two pairs of dangerous-looking spikes. |
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In reality though its fearsome appearance was deceptive as it was a gentle herbivore that grazed on moss and lichen that grew at low levels since it held its head low.
For all its immense size -- it was nearly 30 feet in length, 9 feet in height and weighed 3 tons -- it had a disproportionately small brain. The first stegosaurus fossil was found in North America but others have since been discovered in Europe leading scientists to believe that they crossed over land bridges at a point of time when the continents started forming.
Dinosaurs are known to have become extinct 65 million years ago but by all account the Stegosaurus did not live that long and appears to have died off 75 million years earlier. No one knows precisely what wiped out the Dinosaurs but various theories have been propounded. The most popular is that the earth was hit by an asteroid around 65 million years ago and the after-effects changed the earth forever. The cloud of dust raised by the impact took decades to settle obscuring the sun and with it eradicating all plant and animal life. But we do know some species survived. Again theories abound that those that survived did so because their brain was more developed and their bodies were able to adapt to the changes. Whatever the speculation, there is no definite evidence to conclusively state why the stegosaurus became extinct and why it preceded other dinosaur species.
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