Home time period	Late Jurassic period
Creature type	Thyreophoran Dinosaur
Deaths caused	Unknown
Appearances	Episode 1.1 (picture) S4 Prequel Episode 1 Episode 4.2 (figure)

Stegosaurus is a genus of armoured Dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period.

FactsEdit

The bony plates along Stegosaurus' 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.

In PrimevalEdit

S4 Prequel Episode 1Edit

A Stegosaurus came through an Anomaly into the House of Commons in the present day at some point during the time when the Anomaly Research Centre was suspended, and went on a rampage. The Stegosaurus' ultimate fate is unknown.

Other referencesEdit

Episode 1.1Edit

A figure of a Stegosaurus was among the dinosaur figures in Ben Trent's bedroom. Ben's school also had a painting of a Stegosaurus on its wall.

Episode 1.4Edit

When discussing whether or not to listen to Helen Cutter's warning, James Lester mentioned that he trusted Helen "about as far as he could throw a Stegosaurus."

Episode 4.2Edit

Duncan had a Stegosaurus figure at his apartment.

Behind the scenesEdit

• Rather than creating a model for the Stegosaurus in the Series 4 Prequel Webisode 1, the model of the Embolotherium appeared to have be used. Since the two creatures obviously looked nothing alike, only its head was shown in a low quality recording. Gorgonopsid and Scutosaurus where also used for this.

ErrorsEdit

• Stegosaurus is shown with a large rhinoceros-like horn on its nose in the video in the prequel webisodes. The real animal would have lacked this. This is due to the fact that the producers used a low-quality close-up of the head of the Embolotherium from Series 3 instead of creating a CGI model for the Stegosaurus.

Wikipedia has a more detailed and comprehensive article on Stegosaurus