London is set to house the skeleton of the largest dinosaur ever discovered starting this week.
A cast of the spectacular titanosaur, known as Patagotitan mayorum, will be on display at the Museum of Natural History in London from March 31.
This is the first time Patagotitan mayorum will be going on display in Europe.
The massive specimem is four times heavier than Dippy the Diplodocus exhibit and 12 metres longer than Hope, the museum’s blue whale.
The colossal dinosaur is so large that it barely fits inside the 9-metre-high Waterhouse gallery.
Surrounded by illustrations of Cretaceous plants and animals, visitors can follow the life of the titanosaur, from a football-sized egg plucked from its nest to a fully grown adult.
The skeleton even bears the marks of an encounter with a ferocious predator that took a bite out of its tail.
Visitors can also learn how the titanosaur stayed safe, found food and grew to tower head and shoulders above its fellow Cretaceous being.
The interactive exhibit also allows you to size yourself up against its huge thigh bone, stare into its gigantic sauropod skull and even smell its poo.
Last year, scientists unearthed massive, 98-million-year-old fossils in southwest Argentina that belonged to the titanosaur.
During an excavation at the Candeleros Formation in the Neuquen River Valley in southwest Argentina, human-sized pieces of fossilized bone belonging to the giant sauropod were discovered.
The titanosaur Patagotitan mayorum is the biggest dinosaur that scientists have discovered to date.
This long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur lived over 100 million years ago in what is now Patagonia, Argentina.
‘We are so excited that Patagotitan, the most complete giant dinosaur ever discovered, is making its European debut here at the Natural History Museum, the home of the dinosaur,’ said Dr Alex Burch, Director of Public Programmes at the Museum.
‘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.’
The cast of Patagotitan mayorum has been provided to the Museum by the Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio (MEF), Argentina.
Tickets for the exhibit are available now from £16 for adults and £9 for children.
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