The posture of the stegosaurs was controlled by the length of its legs. Their hind limbs were long and column-like and their front limbs were short and massive giving them a stance that leans forward. This limb distribution leads us to believe that the stegosaurs were not capable of obtaining high speeds when running, reaching maximum speeds of no more than 7.0 km/hr. It has been suggested that it may have been possible that the stegosaurs would lift their front limb off the ground while they were running to achieve higher speeds but this hypothesis is not widely excepted mainly due to the amount of work that would be required for the animal to lift its massive body off the ground in such a way. Unfortunately no fossil stegosaur's foot prints have been found yet, making it difficult to determine specifics about the actual stride of the stegosaur.
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A cartoon showing stegosaur's with both a quadrapedal and bipedal stance. |
