430 / 502

Stegosaurus Composite Skeleton

American Museum of Natural History

Stegosaurus, with its double row of tall bony plates along the back and four long spikes on the tail, is one of the most recognizable dinosaurs. This plant-eater grew to around 9 meters long but had a famously small head and brain. It lived in the Late Jurassic, about 150 million years ago, in the floodplains of what is now the western United States.

Like many historic museum mounts, this skeleton is a composite, assembled from fossils of more than one individual to present a complete animal.


Polycam
Late Jurassic (c. 155-150 million years ago)
American Museum of Natural History
Morrison Formation, western United States
Fossil skeleton