Warty Willy the Stegosaurus

Along the eastern side of Iowa State Highway 12, on the southern outskirts of the town of Akron, Iowa, travelers will perhaps be startled to encounter the pseudo-reptilian, metallic visage of Warty Willy, the local stegosaurus. 

Warty Willy is one of the earliest known life-sized, walking dinosaur replicas. He was unveiled at unveiled at the Greater Siouxland Fair and Rodeo Parade held at South Sioux City, Nebraska in August of 1986. The stegosaurus was designed to be an educational project intended to demonstrate principles of engineering, by Dr. Sterling Stewart and Robert Shockley, both faculty members at Western Iowa Tech in Sioux City, Iowa during the late 1970s.

The robotic stegosaurus replica could not only walk, but could also wag its tail, move its eyes, and open its mouth to both waggle its tongue, and emit a jet of water. Alas, Warty Willy’s days of articulated movement are behind him, and these days he more resembles a statue harkening back to his glory days of yesteryear.