Diplodocus carnegii
Diplodocus is one of the best-known long-bodied sauropods from the rich Morrison fossil beds.
Image: ScottRobertAnselmo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
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Diplodocus had a very long neck and tail, a relatively small head and a body supported by four sturdy legs. Its narrow, pencil-shaped teeth were concentrated at the front of the mouth and suited to stripping leaves or ferns. Its tail may have cracked like a whip, but that proposal is disputed and depends on biomechanical assumptions. The precise feeding height and range of neck movement remain under study.
Riverbanks and open woodlands during the Late Jurassic.
Dinosaur National Monument, Utah
Morrison Formation
Cultural profile: United States →Iconic fossilDiplodocus · CM 84
Found in 1899 by William Reed's team
Sheep Creek near Medicine Bow, Wyoming
Museum: Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh
The original of what became the most famous dinosaur skeleton in the world. Andrew Carnegie had plaster casts made and donated them to major museums, including in Europe; the London cast stood in the hall of the Natural History Museum from 1905 to 2017.
Sources: Diplodocus