A team of scientists revealed that Sophie, the most complete skeleton that belongs to a Stegosaurus dinosaur, weighed approximately 1.6 tons when roamed the Earth, more than 150 million years ago.
The skeletal remains are currently on display at the Natural History Museum of London.
The experts were able to calculate the dinosaur’s body mass, which was a young adult when it died and was the size of a rhinoceros.
Paul Barrett, one of the scientists involved in the study and the chief expert in dinosaur species at the museum, explained that the recent findings suggest the importance of complete skeletons of dinosaur species. The findings play an important role in future scientific research and dinosaur collections.
According to professor Barrett, knowing the weight of Sophie the Stegosaurus will make it easier for the researchers to find out more details about the creature’s metabolism, its feeding requirements and its growth rates.
Also, the same techniques can be applied on other complete skeletons to find out more details about the dinosaurs’ wide ecology.
The Stegosaurus is one of the most distinctive species of dinosaurs because of its crest and bony plates on its back.
Sophie the Stegosaurus is has a skeleton that is approximately 85% complete. It stands in a realistic pose on a small stage at the Natural History Museum’s Exhibition Road entrance.
Although the dinosaur was given a female name, the experts could not tell the prehistoric animal’s gender.
The dinosaur was named after the daughter of a wealthy man who donated a large amount of money so that the dinosaur acquisition could be made possible.
Sophie is approximately 5.6 m long and 2.9 m tall. The specimen is actually small compared with the largest of its species, which measures almost 9 meters.
The scientists created a digital version of the skeleton in order to determine the dinosaur’s body mass. They calculated the volume of flesh around its bones and compared the data with that of modern animals which are similar in size.
The fossils of Sophie the Stegosaurus were unearthed in 2003 at the Red Canyon Ranch, in Wyoming, United States.
Image Source: theguardian
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