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A small team of paleontologists with members from Austria, Germany and Switzerland has found evidence suggesting that a herbivorous dinosaur from the Late Triassic may have used its large tail as a means to ward off predators. In their paper in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the group describes how they studied the well-preserved tail of a Plateosaurus, including a comparison with modern monitor lizards and iguanas, and what they learned by doing so.

The tail studied by the team was unearthed during a dig in Switzerland in 2015. It has been housed at a museum in Vienna since 2021. In this new effort, the team took a look at it from a new perspective: its possible use as a weapon.

Plateosaurus trossingensis was a type of dinosaur that lived during the Late Triassic in what is now North and Central Europe—approximately 229 to 200 million years ago. They were characterized by large bodies with large hindlegs and small forelegs—they grew to lengths of 10 meters and weighed about 600–1,000 kilograms. They also had long necks with small heads and long tails.

It has been noted that they lacked any sort of armor or horns, which might have made them vulnerable to predators. Thus, it would make sense for the creatures to use their heavy tails as a protective weapon.

After studying the tail fossil, which included watching how modern creatures with similar tails, such as monitor lizards and iguanas, use theirs, the research team concluded that it would have been capable of delivering a 1.6 kilojoule blow using just its tip.

A full-on strike by the brunt of the tail, they estimated, could have produced a strike with up to 174 kilojoules of energy—more than enough to kill a small animal or to dissuade a large predator from further attacks. Such a tail, they note, could have also been used against others of its own kind in a battle against a rival for a potential mate, perhaps, or to claim territory—or even to protect its young.

The research team suggests that their findings offer new insights into early herbivore defensive capabilities, helping to explain their longevity despite a lack of other defensive weapons, such as sharp claws or teeth.

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