stegosaur stuff

[Aegyptiacus@aol.com]

Hello list members.
I'm still in a quandarry as to what stegos' back looked like.If I take the 
common opinion, they were (the spines) straight up in the middle of the back. 
This raises some questions:
- what is the use of such an arrangement if the animal could be attacked from 
the side (I've read that dromaeosaurid teeth had been found from the late 
Jurassic age, so I'm thinking of side attacks)
- how did they mate whith such a prohibiting device on their backs?
- was this device foldable (is there any evidence of muscle or ligament 
attachment in the the fossil record that show any kind of articulation)?
- wouldn't it be simpler to think that the plates were flat on the back (which 
would_IMHO_ have provided better protection against agression even with the use 
of the tail)
- their close relatives had flat armored plates (ankylosaurs), so why not them?
Cheers
Jean-Michel