When was diplodocus discovered

From to early the cast - known affectionately as Dippy - was on display in the Museum's Hintze Hall. In , Dippy's tail was lifted from the ground after research revealed that Diplodocus tails would have been raised high to balance the neck.

Every two years or so, Museum experts used specialist equipment to clean the bones that make up Dippy. It takes two staff two days to clean the cast and make sure it is maintained for future generations to enjoy. Dippy has now left the Museum to go on a natural history adventure.

Dinosaurs have a new family tree. Find out how it has changed and what the new tree reveals about dinosaurs' origins and evolution. These popular dinosaur reconstructions from the s are no longer scientifically accurate. Can you spot the errors? Front legs were shorter than hind legs. Diplodocus had 5 fingers on the feet and single large claw on the first finger "big toe" on the hind feet.

Diplodocus had small spines on the skin of neck, body and tail. Name "Diplodocus" means "strange beam". It refers to two rows of bones in the tail, whose main role was to support the weight and ensure greater mobility of tail. Diplodocus had 15 elongated vertebrae in the neck and 80 vertebrae in the tail. Diplodocus used its long, whip-like tail to intimidate predators and competitors. Some researchers believe that tail was also used for communication and during the courtship.

Diplodocus longus is a species of sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of North America. Diplodocus is one of the most abundant sauropods long-necked dinosaurs in the Morrison Formation. Its pencil-like teeth were only in the front of the jaws and were used to strip leaves off of low-growing plants. It could get up to 92 ft 28 m in length and traveled in small herds. Despite its length, it was lightly built, weighing a mere 15 tons.

An Apatosaurus of the same length would weigh nearly twice as much as a Diplodocus. The Carnegie Quarry yielded three of the most complete Diplodocus skeletons ever found. Well-preserved adults and juveniles have been found with uncrushed skulls, which are rarely preserved.

University of California Press. ISBN Taphonomy and paleoecology of the dinosaur beds of the Jurassic Morrison Formation. Paleobiology 6 — Big sauropods - really, really big sauropods. Bulletin Dinosaurs and land plants. In: Friis, E. Cambridge University Press:New York, — The Sauropods:Evolution and Paleobiology. Indiana University Press.

Annals of the Carnegie Museum 9 : — Tail dynamics in the diplodocids". Paleobiology 23 : — Principal characters of American Jurassic dinosaurs. Part I. American Journal of Science 3; — Thunder Lizards: The Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs. The skull of Diplodocus.