Dinosaur no more: UK museum's Dippy to be retired in 2017

Dinosaur no more: UK museum's Dippy to be retired in 2017
Dippy the dinosaur stands on display in the Natural History Museum in London, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. One of the Natural History Museum's best-loved inhabitants, Dippy the dinosaur, is retiring - and his fans aren't happy. The London museum announced Thursday that the 85-foot (26-meter) plaster replica skeleton of a diplodocus, a dinosaur that lived in North America 150 million years ago and has been on display for more than a century, is to be replaced in the main hall by the skeleton of a blue whale. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

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, will be replaced in the main hall by the skeleton of a .

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 will remain on display until 2017, when a real 83-foot (25-meter) whale skeleton will replace it. 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 do," said children's author James Mayhew, whose book "Katie and the Dinosaurs" was inspired by a visit to the museum.

Dinosaur no more: UK museum's Dippy to be retired in 2017
Dippy the dinosaur stands on display in the Natural History Museum in London, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. One of the Natural History Museum's best-loved inhabitants, Dippy the dinosaur, is retiring - and his fans aren't happy. The London museum announced Thursday that the 85-foot (26-meter) plaster replica skeleton of a diplodocus, a dinosaur that lived in North America 150 million years ago and has been on display for more than a century, is to be replaced in the main hall by the skeleton of a blue whale. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

"I would like to think there's a chance that they might reconsider" the skeleton's fate, he said. "It's a London landmark."

The museum said it was looking into the possibility of sending Dippy on tour.

  • Dinosaur no more: UK museum's Dippy to be retired in 2017
    Dippy the dinosaur stands on display in the Natural History Museum in London, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. One of the Natural History Museum's best-loved inhabitants, Dippy the dinosaur, is retiring - and his fans aren't happy. The London museum announced Thursday that the 85-foot (26-meter) plaster replica skeleton of a diplodocus, a dinosaur that lived in North America 150 million years ago and has been on display for more than a century, is to be replaced in the main hall by the skeleton of a blue whale. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
  • Dinosaur no more: UK museum's Dippy to be retired in 2017
    People walk around Dippy the dinosaur as it is displayed in the Natural History Museum in London, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. One of the Natural History Museum's best-loved inhabitants, Dippy the dinosaur, is retiring - and his fans aren't happy. The London museum announced Thursday that the 85-foot (26-meter) plaster replica skeleton of a diplodocus, a dinosaur that lived in North America 150 million years ago and has been on display for more than a century, is to be replaced in the main hall by the skeleton of a blue whale. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
  • Dinosaur no more: UK museum's Dippy to be retired in 2017
    Dippy the dinosaur stands on display in the Natural History Museum in London, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. One of the Natural History Museum's best-loved inhabitants, Dippy the dinosaur, is retiring - and his fans aren't happy. The London museum announced Thursday that the 85-foot (26-meter) plaster replica skeleton of a diplodocus, a dinosaur that lived in North America 150 million years ago and has been on display for more than a century, is to be replaced in the main hall by the skeleton of a blue whale. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

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