After arriving in Coventry, UK, Dippy the dinosaur attracted over 10,000 visitors in its first week of showing. The opening marks the beginning of Dippy’s three-year stay at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum.
Dippy is a Diplodocusor more specifically, a Diplodocus a fossil. Diplodocus were giant dinosaurs that lived in the late Jurassic period, about 161 to 145 million years ago. The giant fossil itself is over 85 feet long and probably weighed between 22,000 and 30,000 pounds when alive.
Read more: Meet Ceratosaurus, the great horned beast of the Jurassic period
What is a Diplodocus?
Diplodocus were giant dinosaurs, like the Brontosaurus, and were some of the largest creatures to exist at the time.
While Dippy was just over 85 feet long, the Diplodocus in fact, it can grow up to 92 feet long, according to the current fossil record. However, Dippy was near the top of a Diplodocus‘ possible weight, since the maximum weight of a Diplodocus it was about £30,000. It is much lighter than other dinosaurs of a similar size. For example, an Apatosaurus of the same length would weigh twice as much as a Diplodocus.
Like other large dinosaurs, Diplodocus reached its extreme size as a herbivore. It had pencil-like teeth that it used to strip the leaves of low-growing plants, and with an extremely long neck, it had many plants to choose from.
Researchers have found almost everybody Diplodocus a fossil in Morrison Formation in the western U.S. This suggests that Diplodocus they probably stayed in one area during their time on Earth. Furthermore, Diplodocus fossils are often found in areas similar to both Allosaurus and Stegosaurus fossils.
A famous fossil
The original Dippy dinosaur fossil is based on was discovered in the state of Wyoming in 1899. Andrew Carnegie purchased the fossil to place it as a centerpiece in his museum in Pittsburgh. Dippy’s actual fossil remains on display there today.
In 1905, a cast of Dippy was gifted to the Natural History Museum in London and remained there for over 100 years before embarking on a UK tour in 2017.
Although Dippy may appear to be one complete cast, it is made up of the remains of five different ones Diplodocus. There are 10 other fossil castings like Dippy around the world, including ones in Paris, Madrid, Berlin and even La Plata, Argentina.