| Stegosaurus | |
|---|---|
 | |
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Name: |
Stegosaurus stenops |
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Abilities and Weapons: |
Strength, Feet, Stamina, Senses, Tail whip, Spikes, Endurance |
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Occupation: |
Stegosaurids |
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Home: |
Skull Island |
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First Appearance: |
King Kong (1933) |
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Diet: |
Herbivore |
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Status: |
Became extinct when Skull Island sunk into the ocean |
Stegosaurus ("roof lizard" or "covered lizard") is a 29.5 feet long species of stegosaurid dinosaur that is found on Skull Island.
Science facts[]
Stegosaurus is a genus of armored dinosaur. Fossils of this genus date to the Late Jurassic period, where they are found in Kimmeridgian to early Tithonian aged strata, between 155 and 150 million years ago, in the western United States and Portugal.
The bony plates along its back were embedded in the skin of the animal, not attached to its skeleton, which is why in most fossil finds the plates are separated from the body. When O C Marsh described the first fossil of a Stegosaurus, he concluded that the plates would have lain flat on its back. After finding a specimen that had been covered with mud, which had held the plates in place, Marsh realised that they stood vertically, alternately on either side of the spine.
Scientists are not exactly sure what the plates were used for. They may have warned off predators, or allowed members of the same species to recognise each other. Another suggestion is that the plates were used to regulate body temperature. There are tiny grooves in the plate surfaces, possibly where blood vessels would have been. The amount of blood passing through these vessels would determine the amount of heat transfer. Compared with the rest of its body, Stegosaurus had a small head and its brain was around the size of a tangerine.
History[]
King Kong (1933 film)[]
The Stegosaurus was one of the first dinosaurs seen in film King Kong. It was wounded in the leg and couldn't get up so the search party just walked around it, hoping that its thorny tail wouldn't stab them or wound anyone. Once they got past the herbivore they went deeper into the jungle of Skull Island. Another one appeared in a deleted scene when Denham runs back to the village, after Kong's battle with the Tyrannosaurus rex.
Kong: the Animated Series[]
Two of De La Porta's henchmen, Frazetti and Giggles once cyberlinked themselves to two Stegosauruses which turned them into gigantic and anthropomorphic versions of the beasts with different physiques.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Stegosaurus was replaced by a Ferrucutus cerastes in the 2005 remake.
- The Stegosaurus had eight spikes on it's tail, while in real life, it had four spikes.
- The Stegosaurus is purple with orange plates and yellow spikes in the colorized version.
- There is a promotion image, which shows King Kong facing off a Stegosaurus.