Are Dinosaur Skeletons In Museums The Real Thing?

observe the marvel of the natural world is a pretty incredible experience , frombeluga whale migration live streamsto visiting your zoological garden of choice . But what about the marvel of long - idle coinage that roll planet Earth millions of years ago ? IFLScience took a trip down to the Natural History Museum , Londonto hear all about their shiny , new bronzeDiplodocus , Fern , and just what go into makingdinosaur specimen for showing .

Standing in front of a giant bronzeDiplodocusthat greets visitor in the museum ’s brand - new Jurassic Gardens , Professor Susie Maidment , a fossilist at the museum , explains just what break down into create a dinosaur specimen on showing . Fern is a wonder , 22 metre long and 4 meters high , but is also a replica of the humanity - famous Dippy theDiplodocusthat greeted visitant in the museum ’s principal entryway hall for nearly 40 years . However , Fern has been made even more scientifically accurate and improved thanks to raw techniques and knowledge that did n’t exist when Dippy first arrive in London in 1905 .

Theoriginal Dippywas discovered in Wyoming , America in 1899 , when millionaire man of affairs Andrew Carnegie set his sights on learn the os for show in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History . However , are the cadaver of long - numb creatures even bones any longer ? When a paleontologist or anamateur fossil hunterfinds a dinosaur frame in the wilderness what are they actually finding and what then go on show ?

“ We get hold fossilised bone , these will be a compounding between actual osseous tissue tissue paper and minerals that have infiltrate the bone over the billion of years that it ’s been immerse and have precipitated out and replaced some of the bone , ” Prof Maidment told IFLScience .

Inside a museum , what you witness can be a combination of those fossilized clappers and replicas for a miscellanea of reason . Not all skeletons can go on presentation , some are of more scientific time value to study , so museums around the mankind make replica to showcase the skeletons to the public . lawfully some bones must also stay in the country they were found in , so make replicas is a great direction to showcase metal money to a wider audience .

Sophie theStegosaurus , which greets visitors at the Museum ’s 2d incoming , is the most completeStegosaurusin the world , and most of what you see there is veridical osseous tissue , Maidment recount IFLScience . The real skull is kept behind the scenes , however , as it is in pieces and alternatively of sticking it together for display , the scientific value is greater for investigator who can study it in detail , so the forefront on display is a three-D printed reproduction .

Dippy – and now Fern – is a complete replica of Carnegie’sDiplodocuswith the independent body made of around three separate skeletons and the skull from many more . In fact , in the beginning Dippy ’s back legs were also used as the front legs because scientists did n’t know what their front feet face like , but do n’t care they havesince been replaced .

To make a replica of the specimens , old cast like Dippy would be made using plaster - of - Paris to cover each bone which would be used to make a detailed cast . This would then be filled with resin or plastic to replicate each piece .

“ In the former day you ’d take the os and cover it in Latex or rubbery case liquid that would solidify , you ’d then peel it off the bone and put a sticking plaster - of - Paris inside it , to make an accurate replica , ” Maidment explained .

However , times have incite on and new technology like 3-D printing permit all of Dippy ’s 292 bones to be scan and mould created to mold Fern in more weather - resistant bronze for its place in the museum gardens . While creating a bronze dinosaur like Fern was a proficient challenge , 3D printing also gives scientists more flexible materials that can be more approachable when make for with a lifesize model of a 30 - ton creature .