Dino card No. 0951 of 2,015

Kentrosaurus

Say it: KEN-troh-SORE-us

Name means: “prickle lizard”1

Ate: PlantsPlated dinosLate Jurassic to Early Cretaceous

Kentrosaurus was a plated dinosaur that lived in what is now Tanzania, Africa, about 152 million years ago. It had a row of small plates on its neck and back that turned into long, sharp spikes on its tail. It used those tail spikes to fight off hungry meat-eaters!1

Lived

162 to 143 million years ago3

Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Tendaguru Formation, Lindi Region, Tanzania1 3

Food

Plants1 2

Length

4 to 5 m1 2

Weight

700 kg to 1.6 tonnes1

Height

up to 1.7 m1

at the hips when on all fours

Artist's life restoration of Kentrosaurus — How Kentrosaurus may have looked, by Foolp. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Scientists still argue about colours and details.

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

Kentrosaurus had a long spike on each shoulder, in addition to the spikes on its tail.1

The name Kentrosaurus was almost changed because it sounded like Centrosaurus, a horned dinosaur. But the spelling is different, so Kentrosaurus stayed.1

Scientists think there were two types of Kentrosaurus, one with stouter thigh bones and one with slimmer ones. This might mean males and females looked different.1

Over 1200 bones of Kentrosaurus were found in Tanzania by German expeditions between 1909 and 1912.1

Kentrosaurus lived alongside giant long-necked sauropods like Giraffatitan and Tornieria.1

The plates on its neck and back were probably covered in horn, like a cow's horn.1

Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Kentrosaurus had all its spikes and plates in a single row down its back.

Truth: Scientists think Kentrosaurus had two rows of plates and spikes, one on each side of its back.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Kentrosaurus
Named by: Hennig 19153
Group: Plated dinos
Family / clade: Stegosauridae3
Classification: Ornithischia > Stegosauria > Thyreophora3
Age of the rocks: 162 to 143 million years (Oxfordian to Tithonian)3
Rock formations: Tendaguru3
Countries: Tanzania3
Fossil records: 27 in the Paleobiology Database3
Also known as: Doryphorosaurus, Kentrurosaurus (older names now counted as the same animal)3
Discovery: German paleontologist Edwin Hennig named Kentrosaurus in 1915. The first fossils were found by the German Tendaguru Expedition in 1909.1 3
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly where each plate and spike was placed on the body, because most were found scattered.1

Where the facts come from

Kentrosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Kentrosaurus | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Kentrosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.