Stegosaurus means 'roof lizard'or 'plated lizard',the Stegosaurus was named by Othneil Marsh, it was named in 1877.
The Stegosaurus was a herbivore (plant-eater) - Stegosaurus probably ate ferns, smaller club mosses, cycads, horsetails, and bushy conifers.
The Stegosaurus was about 26-30 feet(8-9 metres) long, about 9 feet (2.75 m) tall at the hips, and weighed 6,800 pounds (3100 kg).
The Stegosaurus lived in the late Jurassic period, about 156-140 million years ago.
The Stegosaurus fossils have been found in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, USA, North America.
The first Stegosaurus fossil was found in Colorado, USA, in 1876 by M. P. Felch. Others have been found since then.
Stegosaurus had 17 bony plates that were embedded in its back - the plates ran along the Stegosaurus' back and tail in two rows, and the plates alternated in alignment. The largest of these triangular plates was about 2.5 ft (76 cm) tall and just as long. Stegosaurus also had spikes at the end of its flexible tail (these are called thagomizers).
Although Stegosaurus was about the size of a bus, it had a small head (the size of a horse's head) and a brain that was only the size of a walnut.
