Thagomizer

 Just something silly I thought about and wanted to share.

One of the most famous species of Dinosaurs is the herbivore Stegosaurus. And probably the most iconic characteristic of this species of Dinosaur is the collection of spikes on the end of its tail.


This collection of spikes is called a Thagomizer, which is a pretty cool sounding name for a body part, but whats funny is where this term came from.

The word "Thagomizer" was not originally a scientific term. But, instead, came from (of all things) a The Far Side comic strip.

Comic author Gary Larson completely made up the word "Thagomizer". But it was used by an actual paleontologist named Kenneth Carpenter when describing a Stegosaurus fossil during the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology conference of 1993.

The term stuck, and has since become an informal anatomical term that has been used by museums, monuments, documentaries, and even scientific research papers.

The more you know I guess. :)


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