Ancient Beast Found Mating Tricky

The two new Typothorax specimens, found by volunteers Paul Sealey and Scott Sucher in the New Mexico Badlands, show that the bodies of these animals were completely encased from head to toe in bony armor. One surprise discovery was that sharp spikes surrounded the cloaca (the cavity into which the intestinal, genital and urinary tracts open).

Given the arrangement of these spikes, how then did these animals mate?

"Very carefully," said Celeskey. "Or maybe not. Perhaps the spikes were just what they needed to get things going. The truth is we don't know exactly how the cloacal spikes would have affected mating, although I'm confident that two consenting Typothorax would have been able to figure it out."