Living: The Scelidosaurus had a little head on a neck, which was remarkable long for an armored dinosaur, and a long heavy body. Sinews probably supported the tail.

By Shiraishi Mineo

The pelvis and the armored skin reminds of the primitive Scutellosaurus – the teeth looked like the crest-lizards. And the rows of bones on the back look like prototypes of the incredible defense-system on the Ankylosaurs. The Scelidosaurs might have been the ancestors of these dinosaurs. The scientists once found some fossils in a sea-deposit, which made them, believe that these dinosaurs were amphibians. But it is more likely that the dinosaurs lived next to rivers, drowned in the flood and the water then took the bodies out in the river.

Walking and standing: Sometimes the Scelidosaurs could stand on its hind legs, to reach up to the high leaves, but the body does not seem to be capable of holding that weight for very long time. It is more likely that it walked on all four legs, when the hip were the highest point on the body, so that the hind legs could carry all the weight. The front legs seem to be constructed to hold only a precise amount of weight, and they were as wide as the feet on the hind legs. If it squeezed itself together, only the armor on the back was visible on the dinosaur. This helped it against attacks from Theropods and even the neck and head had an armor strong enough to break a tooth on the attacking dinosaur.

Skull: Amateur-collectors found a fragment of a young dinosaur-skeleton in 1985 near Charmouth on England’s southern coast. It was identified as a Scelidosaurus and has teeth in front of the upper jaw,

By Shiraishi Mineo

which is characteristic for an Ornithischian skull. Rows of small spikes protected the back of the head.

Skin: Imprints of the Scelidosaurs skin show, that between the rows of bone-spikes, that protected the tail and back, was a mosaic of small rounded shells, like those you see on the Heloderma, our times poisonous lizard, better known by the name The Gila Monster.