Stegosaur tails packed a punch

From Norman, Okla., at a meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

A mathematical analysis of a fossil stegosaur’s bones leaves little doubt that the creature’s spike-studded tail was an effective defense against predators.

Stegosaurus stenops was a 9-meter-long, 2-ton herbivore that had two rows of finlike plates running along its back and two pairs of meter-long spikes adorning its tail.