Rawrus the Stegosaur
Stegosaurus
STEG-OH-SORE-US
Stegosaurus means "roofed lizard". It got it's name from the man who first found them because he thought their back plates were like the tiles on a roof!
The mans name was Othniel Marsh and he found lots of other dinosaurs too! He found Triceratops and Allosaurus. He even found birds and horses! He was good at finding things!
Stegosaurus lived 200 million years ago in the late Jurassic period. They lived in America in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. They lived with Apatosaurus, Diplodocus and the scary Allosaurus!
The Stegosaurus was 8-9 metres (26-30 feet) long and was the biggest of all the plant-eating dinosaurs with back plates. They ate shrubs and bushes that grew close to the ground like ferns. Yummy!
They ate the low plants because their little heads were close to the ground. They used teeth shaped like scissors to chew the leaves up. It's a good job the food was low to the ground because they only had little brains in their little heads! Have you ever seen a walnut? That's how small their brains were! And for how big they were, that means they couldn't have been very clever!
Scientists found footprints that show Stegosaurus lived in family group, that's why Rawrus loves living with his family so much!
They had curved backs with 2 rows of plates. The plates were wide and thin and nobody is sure what they are for! It could be for finding a new friend, or to look big and scary to other Stegosaurus. Maybe it was so they could control how hot or cold they were... Or maybe it was to tell each other apart because they were pretty stupid!*
*Rawrus would like readers to note that his head is in much bigger proportion to his body so he is much more clever than a normal Stegosaurus!
Have you ever seen a Stegosaurus tail? It was long and strong and high off the ground. They had 4 big, sharp spikes on it so they could defend themselves. One Stegosaurus even managed to make a hole in an Allosaurus with his tail!
Name: Stegosaurus
Scientific Name: Stegosaurus Stenops
Meaning: Roof Lizard
Home: Western North America, Europe
When: Late Jurassic Period (150 million years
First Discovered: By Othniel Marsh in 1877
Top Speed: 5mph (7kph)
Length: up to 9m (30 feet)
Weight: 2 tonnes
Food: Plant Eater