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Kentrosaurus was a dinosaur that lived in Tanzania during the Late Jurassic period. It was a stegosaur, closely related to Stegosaurus.
Description[]
Life restoration
Kentrosaurus was similar to Stegosaurus but was smaller, averaging around 5 meters (16 feet). It also had many more spikes then Stegosaurus had. Its two most striking ones were on its sides, jutting outward parallel to the ground; where they went on its body is disputed, with some scientists thinking they came out at the side of each of its rear hips, while others think they were fitted on its shoulders. Instead of having upright plates on its back as a spiketail (stegosaurus) most of the plates were actually more spikes.
Size[]
The total length of a composite skeletal mount in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germany, from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail is 4.5 m (15 ft). Slightly more than half of this length is made up by the tail. Larger single elements were found, so that the animal could probably attain a total length of 5.5 m (18 ft).
Classification[]
There is one known, valid species in the genus Kentrosaurus, Kentrosaurus aethiopicus. Another proposed species, Kentrosaurus longispinus, is not regarded by scientists to actually fit within Kentrosaurus and is currently regarded as its own genus, Alcovasaurus.
History[]
Mounted Kentrosaurus skeleton on display at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin
The Kentrosaurus was discovered by a German expedition to East Africa in 1909 and 1912 . Edwin Hennig first described this genus in 1915.[1]
Paleobiology[]
It had a very large body and a huge stomach to eat rough and short plants. The front legs were much shorter than the rear, forcing the Kentrosaurus to walk on all fours. If it had tried to stand up on its own weight it would have to get on all fours again. Yet it is possible that Kentrosaurus could temporarily be on its hind legs to reach shrubs and plants.
Kentrosaurus in The Land Before Time[]
Stegosaurs (or "Spiketails) that may be depictions of Kentrosaurus first appear in The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire, where one followed Pterano to find a way to the Great Valley along with many other dinosaurs.
A few other Kentrosaurus also appear in other films as background characters, and in some episodes of the TV series, such as in 'The Hermit of Black Rock' and 'March of the Sand Creepers'.
References[]
- ↑ Hennig, E. (1915). "Kentrosaurus aethiopicus, der Stegosauride des Tendaguru." ("Kentrosaurus aethiopicus, the stegosaur of Tendaguru") Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin 1915:219-247 German
External links[]
- Kentrosaurus in The Dinosaur Encyclopaedia at Dino Russ's Lair
- Kentrosaurus from DinoData.org