Front:
25
Stegosaurue
BUENA
OCT
1989
32830
Balke)
FL
VISTA,
LAKE
Back:
STEGOSAURUS
First Day of Issue: October 1, 1989
First Issue Location: Lake Buena Vista, Florida
The fact that the twenty-foot stegosaurus had a compara-
tively tiny head is not surprising considering the fact that
its brain was about the size of a walnut. Because of the
minuscule size of its gray matter, this enormous animal is
thought to have possessed a very low intelligence, as is
believed to be the case with most dinosaurs. However,
stegosaurus displayed an impressive suit of armor that
placed it among the most imposing of dinosaurs — two
rows of large, triangular plates protected its backbone and
spinal chord, and long, pointed spikes on its tail were a
lethal weapon against attackers. Stegosaurus' terrible tail
was not controlled by its tiny brain, but by a nerve center
located near its hip which appeared to function as a
“second brain." Here, the spinal cord enlarged to almost
twenty times bigger than the animal's brain, and con-
trolled its stocky legs as well as its tail. This lower nerve
center gave rise to an early misconception that the huge
creature, believed to have been very dumb, actually had
two brains.
No. 89-28
©1989 The Maximum Card Collection
A Division of Unicover Corporation Cheyenne, WY 82008-0007
Original painting by Don Balke
