WATCH: “Sophie” the stegosaurus is put together
LONDON – The skeleton of a 100 million-year-old dinosaur has gone on display at London’s Natural History museum.
“Sophie” the stegosaurus has 85 percent of its skeleton intact, and has been put together by staff at the museum.
Standing at 5.6 metres (18 feet) long and 2.9 metres (9.5 feet) tall, the skeleton is small compared with the largest of her species which measured up to nine metres (29 feet).
Scientists will look at the iconic plates on the stegosaurus’ back to see if they could have been used as a radiator to lose or gain heat, and its spikes to see if they could have been used as a defensive weapon.
“Lots of different aspects of the animal’s biology are going to get covered over the next couple of years as we probe the skeleton in depth,” said professor Paul Barrett, a scientist at the museum.
“Sophie” is the first complete dinosaur specimen to go on display at the Natural History Museum in nearly 100 years.
Comments