An illustration of a Stegosaurus swiping its spiked tail at a large carnivorous dinosaur in a forest clearing.
Dinosaurs

Stegosaurus strikes out

By Sam Rae

This artist’s reconstruction shows a Stegosaurus striking a powerful blow to one of its predators, a Ceratosaurus.

The image is one of a series by palaeoartist Robert Nicholls, commissioned by the Natural History Museum and based on one of our star exhibits – one of the most complete Stegosaurus skeletons ever found.

The fossil remains were discovered in the rocks of the Morrison Formation, a geological deposit in the USA. The dinosaur lived during the Late Jurassic, approximately 150 million years ago.

Most of the body is preserved, including the back plates and tail spines, which scientists think were used to lash out at predators.

The Stegosaurus fossil went on display in our Earth Hall in December 2014.

Find out what our scientists are revealing about how dinosaurs looked, lived and behaved.

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