Diplodocus starts a long goodbye

The Natural History Museum has announced that their famousDiplodocusskeleton will be replaced with that of a blue whale, but is it the right move?So the Natural History Museum is waving goodbye to ‘Dippy’ the Diplodocus. The iconic and long standing entrance piece to the magnificent museum is to be taken down in the next two years and its place taken by a mount of a blue whale skeleton suspended from the ceiling. This announcement has been, at best, controversial and reviews mixed. Although many have hailed the new plans as exciting and elegant, there has understandably been an outcry over the loss of such a recognisable feature from display of one of the world ’s premier scientific collections.The famous plaster cast first arrived at the museum in 1905, a gift from Andrew Carnegie and his museum in Pittsburgh that, like the animal, bears his name. (There are several species ofDiplodocus known, and Dippy is a copy ofDiplodocuscarnegii). It arrived at the request of Edward VII who marveled at drawings of the original specimen and what was at the time, the largest dinosaur known. A series of copies also made it to other famed collections and other versions of this specimen can been seen in Berlin, Paris, Milan and others.Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Dinosaurs Museums Fossils Zoology Natural History Museum Science Source Type: news