http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2012/11/stegosaurus-plate-debate/ Where Paleontology Meets Pop Culture Sat, 22 Dec 2012 16:48:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2012/11/stegosaurus-plate-debate/comment-page-1/#comment-7268 Rebecca Fri, 23 Nov 2012 20:06:38 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/?p=8846#comment-7268 I know the plates don't protect the flanks, but I remember in Malta reading about how the choice way to attack a Brachylophasaurus was to bite it in the spine (maybe to paralyze it?). These animal's fossils were found with bite scars in their spines where attacks had not been successful and the brachylophosaurus had gone on to survive. If this is the way predators attack, then the plates *are* armour, right? No matter how big your jaws are, tall broad bony plates would make if difficult to take a bite out of a stegosaurus from the top down. Just wondering! I know the plates don’t protect the flanks, but I remember in Malta reading about how the choice way to attack a Brachylophasaurus was to bite it in the spine (maybe to paralyze it?). These animal’s fossils were found with bite scars in their spines where attacks had not been successful and the brachylophosaurus had gone on to survive. If this is the way predators attack, then the plates *are* armour, right? No matter how big your jaws are, tall broad bony plates would make if difficult to take a bite out of a stegosaurus from the top down.
Just wondering!

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