Summary Dippy the dinosaur is being retired from London's Natural History Museum and his fans aren't happy
LONDON: (AP) - Dippy the dinosaur is being retired from London s Natural History Museum and his fans aren t happy.
The museum announced Thursday that the 85-foot (26-meter) plaster skeleton, which has been on display for more than a century, is to be replaced in the main hall by the skeleton of a blue whale.
Dippy is a plaster replica of a diplodocus, a dinosaur that lived in North America 150 million years ago.
The original was unearthed in Wyoming in 1899 and is housed at Pittsburgh s Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Philanthropist Andrew Carnegie gave Britain the plaster copy in 1905 after a request from King Edward VII.
Dippy is slated to be replaced in 2017 with a real 83-foot (25-meter) whale skeleton. Natural History Museum director Michael Dixon said the change was part of a 10-year overhaul of the museum, "focusing on the real and authentic."
"Much loved as Dippy is, he s a plaster cast replica of a diplodocus, and one of a number around the world," Dixon said.
The news drew protest from Britons who recalled childhood visits to the museum. Some expressed outrage on Twitter using the hashtag #savedippy, and an online petition called for the dinosaur to be spared.
"Nothing can quite capture the imagination of children in the same way that dinosaurs do," said children s author James Mayhew, whose book "Katie and the Dinosaurs" was inspired by a visit to the museum.
"It s a London landmark," Mayhew said.
The museum said it was looking into the possibility of sending Dippy on tour.
