Re: Broken Stegosaur spike

[tlford@ix.netcom.com (Tracy Ford)]

You wrote: 
>
>If Stegosaurus stenops broke off half of one of its tailspikes, say, 
>defending itself (humor me here for a moment, those of you who don't 
>believe it was a weapon), what would the break look like?  Would it 
break 
>clean off or would it splinter along the length of the spike?  I'm 
>looking for you to "draw me a picture."  Was there a sheath of 
something 
>over bone?  Would it have bled profusely or broken off clean?
>
>Thanks,
>Larry
>

I'd probably look like the broken tail spike from the new Canon City 
Stegosaurus stenops that Ken Carpenter is working on. That specimen has 
a broken tail spike. 

See:

Ken Carpenter, 1996. A New Look at Stegosaurus. Dinosaur Discoveries,  
Number 1: 6-7.

Tracy