In the anterior third of the tail, they point backwards, the usual direction.
Most notably, the neural spines in the tail are not sub-parallel, as in most dinosaurs. Kentrosaurus can be distinguished from other members of the Stegosauria by a number of osteological characters. The posterior position of the center of mass may not have been advantageous for rapid locomotion, but meant that the animal could quickly rotate around the hips by pushing sideways with the arms, keeping the tail pointing at threats.
Thus, the hind feet did not support the animal alone, and the fore feet took up 10 to 15% of the bodyweight. However, the femora are straight in Kentrosaurus, as opposed to typical bipeds, indicating a straight and vertical limb position. It rests just in front of the hip, a position usually seen in bipedal dinosaurs. The long tail of Kentrosaurus results in a position of the center of mass that is unusually far back for a quadrupedal animal. Larger single elements were found, so that the animal could probably attain a total length of 5.5 m (18 ft). Slightly more than half of this length is made up by the tail. The total length of a composite skeletal mount in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germany, from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail is 4.5 m (15 ft). Kentrosaurus aethiopicus was a small stegosaur, smaller than Stegosaurus armatus, Hesperosaurus mjosi, Dacentrurus armatus and Tuojiangosaurus multispinus, and about as large as Huayangosaurus taibaii.
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