What is a Thagomizer?
What is a Thagomizer?
Quite simply put a thagomizer is the informal name given to the spikes on a dinosaur’s tail.
Origin
For a very long time there was no real name for these spikes (typically 4-10 on a dinosaur tail, most notably the stegosaurus).
In 1982 that all changed when a cartoonist by the name of Gary Larson published a comic called “Far Side”. The cartoon contained an image showing both people and dinosaurs together. In the image students were being taught that the spikes were called a thagomizer – named after the late Thag Simmons, who had supposedly met his match when up against the spikes (which in and of itself is totally inaccurate – humans and dinosaurs have never co-existed).
Despite the inaccurate context and joke, the term stuck and has now been adopted by scientists and museums as an anatomical point of reference.
The spikes are thought to have a defensive purpose should the animal be in a fight. However, there is not significant evidence to support this entirely.
Check out the links below if you’re interested in learning more
don’t forget to leave a comment about this post or what you’d like to see next
Check out some of our other recent articles:
That brought back memories! I loved dinosaurs as a child, and actually knew what a thagomizer what 🙂
glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Hey thank you for this post!
It was quite interesting to read about what the thagomizer is and where the name came from, I haven’t heard of it before.
It does seem logical that the spikes on these animals were used in defence as seen in many animals today despite the lack of evidence. I like how scientist decided to keep the name too!
Thanks again and have a great day!