Natural History Museum London's Dinosaur Exhibit in Taipei

TaiwanPlus News

On loan from London's Natural History Museum, a skeleton cast of the largest dinosaur ever discovered has arrived in Taipei for a new special exhibit. The reconstructed Patagotitan is already a firm favorite with dinosaur lovers in Taiwan.

Transcript

00:00Dwarfed by what could be the biggest animal to have ever walked the earth, visitors are

00:07here to see this towering 37-meter-long skeleton cast of a Patagotitan mayorum, the largest

00:14dinosaur ever discovered.

00:16On loan from London's Natural History Museum, this display will be here at the National

00:21Taiwan Science Education Centre in Taipei for the next four months.

00:26And getting it in place was no easy task.

00:29We used a spider wheel to get it in place.

00:34What's special about it is that we also removed the chandelier and windscreen from the museum

00:40to get it in place.

00:43Categorized as a Titanosaurus, a diverse group of land-dwelling dinosaurs, the Patagotitan

00:48mayorum roamed the planet over 100 million years ago and is named after the Patagonia

00:54region in Argentina where they were first discovered in 2010.

00:58Scientists 3D scanned the fossils to create a cast made of fiberglass, polyester resin,

01:04and expanding foam to successfully reconstruct this skeleton model, consisting of nearly

01:09300 bones.

01:12These massive herbivores are known for their distinct long necks that allowed them to forge

01:16for food on tall trees.

01:19The Patagotitan mayorum is literally a big deal.

01:22They can weigh over 70 tons, the equivalent of about eight T. rexes.

01:27This interactive exhibit gives visitors a chance to get up close and personal with the

01:32colossal animal, to view it from every single side, and even from underneath its belly.

01:38In addition to the behemoth skeletal replica, this special exhibit also includes lifelike

01:44animatronic models, allowing visitors to come face-to-face with various dinosaur species.

01:52It's already gone over big with dinosaur lovers and inquisitive schoolchildren.

01:57We're here to see our dinosaur friends.

01:59Yeah, our dead friends.

02:00Here is our titanosaurs.

02:04I like the dinosaur bones.

02:12This is the third time the Natural History Museum London has loaned an exhibit to Taiwan

02:16in recent years.

02:18The curators here say the success of these exchanges demonstrate the know-how that Taiwan's

02:23institutions possess, and could create more opportunities for international collaborations

02:29of this kind.

02:31Meaning the Patagotitan mayorum's temporary stay here not only offers an impressive showcase

02:36of paleontological marvels, but could lead to even bigger things to come for Taiwan's

02:42museums and scientific institutions.

02:45Andy Shura, Pichi Drong, and Wesley Lewis for Taiwan Plus.

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Natural History Museum London's Dinosaur Exhibit in Taipei

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Natural History Museum London's Dinosaur Exhibit in Taipei