Huge model of Patagotitan dinosaur to go on display in London next year
28 November 2022, 09:38 | Updated: 28 November 2022, 09:39
London's Natural History Museum is set to host the biggest dinosaur it has ever put on show - one of the largest to walk the Earth.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
The Natural History Museum in London will host the dinosaur from next spring until 2024 in its European debut.
The titanosaur, Patagotitan mayorum, lived 100 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.
It would have been four times heavier than the museum's famous Dippy the Diplodocus - weighing in at 57 tonnes - and 37 metres long - 12 metres longer than Hope the blue whale.
The huge model will be exhibited in the Waterhouse Gallery, where there will also be a titanosaur egg.
Read more: One hundred British companies to give workers a four-day week - with no loss of pay for workers
Read more: JK Rowling hits out at Labour for backing Nicola Sturgeon's controversial gender self-ID laws
Professor Paul Barrett, a dinosaur expert at the Natural History Museum, said: "Patagotitan mayorum is an incredible specimen that tells us more about giant titanosaurs than ever before.
"Comparable in weight to more than nine African elephants, this star specimen will inspire visitors to care for some of the planet’s largest and most vulnerable creatures, which face similar challenges for survival, and show that within Earth’s ecosystems, size really does matter."
The cast of Patagotitan mayorum has been provided to the museum by the Egidio Feruglio Palaeontological Museum in Argentina.
Alex Burch, director of public programmes at the Natural History Museum, said: "We are so excited that Patagotitan, the most complete giant dinosaur ever discovered, is making its European debut here.
"Our fascination with dinosaurs provides the ideal opportunity to inspire and inform the next generation about the natural world, and empower them to act for the planet."
