Natural History Museum: A skeleton bigger than Dippy the diplodocus on display soon
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Two replica skeletons exist in the US, but this will be the first showing in Europe
Dippy the dinosaur is big, but the latest addition to London's Natural History Museum is even bigger.
A full cast of the skeleton of a titanosaur - one of the most massive creatures to have ever walked on Earth - will be displayed at the museum in the spring.
Its full name is Patagotitan mayorum. It was a 57-tonne creature whose skeleton stretched 37 metres long.
That's the equivalent weight of around seven elephants, the equivalent length of two bowling alleys!
An illustration of what experts think a titanosaur would've looked like when it walked on the Earth
Back in 2010, a ranch owner in Argentina spotted a huge thigh bone sticking out of the ground.
Fossil experts flocked to Patagonia where they dug up more than 200 pieces of skeleton which they believe was from at least six animals.
Patagotitan mayorum lived in the Cretaceous period around 101 million years ago.
They were herbivores, which means they ate plants and leaves.
A researcher lies next to a dinosaur's thigh bone
The exhibition will also be displaying a fossilised dinosaur egg of the titanosaur - which is smaller than a football!
Although these fossils have helped experts' understanding of this huge dinosaur, there are some questions that remain unanswered.
Why did six animals die so closely together? What was it about Patagonia that led to such massive dinosaurs existing there? Did titanosaurs live elsewhere too?
You'll have the chance to see the titanosaur from March next year until January 2024.
- Published9 February 2022
- Published2 October 2022
