Kentrosaurus aethiopicus KEN-troh-SOR-us
"Spiked lizard"
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Kentrosaurus 4.5 m (14.8 ft) long
3 people holding hands
- Length
- 4.5 m (14.8 ft) — About 4.5 m long, ~500 kg — much smaller than Stegosaurus, with more spikes.
- Period
- Late Jurassic (155–150 Mya)
- Place
- Africa · Tanzania
- Food
- Herbivore — Low-growing ferns and cycads, probably with a beak that cropped soft plant material.
Kentrosaurus was an African stegosaur, smaller than Stegosaurus but more heavily armed. The plates along its back gave way to long spikes from the middle of the back onward, with extra spikes pointing sideways from its hips. It lived around the same time as Stegosaurus, but on a different continent and at about half the size.
What we know
- Plates on the neck and shoulders, spikes on the back and tail.
- Extra pair of long spikes pointing sideways from the hips.
- Found in the Tendaguru Formation in Tanzania, alongside Giraffatitan.
- About half the length and a fifth the weight of Stegosaurus.
What we guess
- Whether the hip spikes were defensive weapons or display structures.
- How it interacted with the giant sauropods and theropods in the same ecosystem.
- Whether the plates were brightly colored or warmed in the sun.