By
Paul Rincon
Science
editor, BBC News website
"Seeing
the reaction of the people is fantastic. It all makes sense - we do this
because we're interested in the science, but it all goes back to society."
Palaeontologist
Diego Pol is talking about the giant dinosaur he spent years excavating in
southern Argentina. This titan of the Cretaceous Period, or at least a
fibreglass replica of its skeleton, has now taken up residence as an exhibit in
New York's American Museum of Natural History (AMNH).
The
cast is 122ft long and respresents a giant plant-eating titanosaur that lived
in the forests of Patagonia between 100 and 95 million years ago. It may well
be the biggest dinosaur yet discovered, but is so new it doesn't have a formal
scientific name.
The
dinosaur cast was unveiled before a packed crowd of media on 14 January. The
skeleton grazes the 19ft-high ceilings of the museum's Wallach Orientation
Center and its head and neck stick out of the room, gazing towards the lifts.
The
story behind the exhibit is told in a new BBC One documentary presented by
Sir David Attenborough.
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