Is the name of the spikes found on the tail of some dinosaurs, from wikipedia:

The thagomizer, or tail spikes, is an arrangement of four to ten spikes on the tails of particular dinosaurs of the clade Stegosauria, of which Stegosaurus stenops is the most familiar. The tail arrangement is believed to have been a defensive weapon against predators.[1]

The Etymology or root of the word? A Far Side Comic. Apparently paleobiologists have a sense of humor and the name kinda stuck.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 7:43 pm and is filed under misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.