Natural History Museum’s famous Dippy the Diplodocus is dismantled bone by bone to go on tour – as he makes way for a whale skeleton instead
NATURAL History Museum legend Dippy the Diplodocus is being "flat packed" ahead of his nationwide tour - two years after bosses announced he was to be replaced with a "boring" blue whale skeleton.
One of the venue's best-recognised exhibits, the 70ft (21.3m) plaster-cast sauropod replica made up of 292 bones, will bid farewell from January 5 when Hintze Hall closes.
Made in 1905 Dippy took up residence in Hintze Hall in 1979 and in 1993 had his tail raised - in that time it is estimated he has been viewed by more than 90 million visitors.
Lorraine Cornish, head of conservation at the central London museum, said a team of six will start dismantling Dippy piece by piece - beginning with the tail - over three-and-a-half weeks.
Expecting him to fit into 12 crates, she said Dippy will be cleaned and repaired where required as he is prepared for his two-year tour.
Ms Cornish said he will also be fitted with a new armature which will allow him to be put up and taken down easily, as the current one was "not made for travelling or touring".
"We are drawing out a map so we can locate each part of that skeleton - we have a labelling system because some of the vertebrae look very similar," she added.
"Once you get them off you don't want to muddle them up, so we have developed a proper numbering system that works with dinosaur anatomy.
"When we come to put it back together we don't get anything jumbled up."
Ms Cornish, who joined the museum when Dippy moved into the entrance hall, said his departure is "an emotional time" and that staff "bond" and "feel protective" about the specimens.
Related stories
"I have seen first hand the amount of pleasure Dippy has brought families and people coming into the museum, but I am really excited that Dippy can go out on tour around the UK," she said.
"We are really keen for people to understand how important natural history is, and what a rich natural history we have in the UK.
"He has been stuck in Hintze Hall since 1979 - it will be great for him to get out on a journey."
Dippy's coveted spot at the entrance to the museum is being taken by the real skeleton of an 83ft (25.2m) female blue whale, weighing 4.5 tonnes.
She will take up position from summer this year in a diving pose as she is suspended from the ceiling of the hall.
The 83ft whale skeleton came to the museum in 1891, bought for £250 after a
specimen was found beached in Wexford harbour, Ireland, after being injured
by a whaler.
But Dippy's replacement with the whale skeleton didn't go down well with everyone, with thousands of people signing a petition to keep him proudly displayed at the museum instead of giving his place to a "boring" blue whale.
The hashtag #SaveDippy lit up the social network, and within hours nearly 1,000 people had signed a Save Dippy petition.
Furious Dippy fans said it was as bad as taking Nelson off his column or removing the Eiffel Tower from Paris.
Dippy was unveiled in the Natural History Museum’s reptile gallery on May 12,
1905.
He was donated by Scottish-born American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, a
copy of a near-complete diplodocus fossil dug up in Wyoming, US, in 1898,
which is now housed at the Carnegie museum in Pittsburgh.
The skeleton copy, which contains 356 plaster cast bones, was constructed over
a period of 18 months and shipped to England in 36 crates.
To avoid damage during the Blitz, Dippy was taken apart and stored in the
Natural History Museum’s basement. In 1979 he was rebuilt and given pride of
place in the central hall.
He will also travel to Birmingham Museum, Ulster Museum, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Great North Museum in Newcastle, the National Assembly of Wales in Cardiff, Number One Riverside in Rochdale, and Norwich Cathedral.
Kat Nilsson, who is head of national public programmes at the museum, admitted it was going to be "quite a task" to move the dinosaur around.
"Dippy is going to be dismantled, completely," she said.
"And we are going to turn him, essentially, into flatpack Dippy so that he can be put together - probably in four days by the end of it, maybe even less.";
At each tour location, Ms Nilsson said there is an opportunity for people from all over the country to be bowled over by Dippy, and that they want him to inspire "five million natural history adventures".
"The more people we get engaged with the natural history world, the more likely people are to want to study science ... but also a better understanding of the natural world," she said.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368