Stegouros Elengasse: The Newest Dinosaur

Bella Zielinski '23
The discovery of a new dinosaur often signifies an immense development in the research, discovery, or excavation aspects of paleontology. In the case of the Stegouros elengassen, it encompassed all three. 
In real life, the Stegouros elengassen was a mammoth of a creature—six feet long, rotund middle, slender limbs, and the famous battle-ax-reminiscent tail its species is known for. This tail acted as a built-in weapon for protecting the specimen against all sorts of predators in its day. Not only does this creature earn the title of “unique” for its interesting defense tactics, but it also poses a great question for scientists over the origin of this certainly extraordinary weapon. The leading theory in the paleontology world involves the fusing of bone tissue over the vertebrae of the tail, giving it its distinctly dangerous form. This theory differs from the other ankylosaurs of the family that the Stegouros elengassen comes from. Other ankylosaurs evolutionarily developed tails from the stiffening of vertebrae over time, while others held no tails at all—a demonstration of the exceptionality of the newly discovered Stegouros elengassen. 
The rarities of the Stegouros elengassen are not limited to its actual make-up, however, with the excavation technique also soaring beyond new heights of what was thought to be possible for fossil discovery. Two years ago, a team in Chile stumbled across an almost complete wealth of bones in the valley of Rio Las Chinas with only five days remaining in the field season. This was quite the accomplishment as most skeletons do not reveal even 50% of a completed dinosaur. The team carried their treasure back down to the campsite, not without disaster however, with injuries including a sprained ankle, broken rib, and even hypothermia cases. 
The discovery of the dinosaur paved the way for the independence of Chile and other South American countries in their paleontology endeavors. Previous to this feat, South America had been closely tied to the work of North American and European countries. Now, though, it has been entrusted with completing more research due to the successes of the newest ankylosaur relative; the time difference of 65 million years cannot stop our favorite battle-ax-armed friends from helping us out a little bit! 

St. Francis High School

2130 W. Roosevelt Road, Wheaton, IL 60187
Phone (630) 668-5800
Fax (630) 668-5893