Exclusive interview with Dippy

The Natural History Museum’s famous dinosaur, Dippy, is settling into Rochdale, as part of his record breaking tour.

Rochdale, which is the only North West stop, plays host to the Dippy until 28 June at Number One Riverside with an accompanying Dippy exhibition at Touchstones Rochdale. It’s free to see Dippy and visit the Dippy exhibition.

Dippy on Tour has proved a record breaker, with over 1.5m people visiting the much-loved dinosaur at his tour stops so far; Dorset, Birmingham, Belfast, Glasgow, Newcastle and Cardiff. Rochdale is the penultimate stop, before the tour finishes at Norwich Cathedral in October 2020. All events and activities, and booking information, can also be found at: www.visitrochdale.com.

Style caught up with Dippy to discuss his new home at Number One Riverside, life in the Jurassic period, and why he's never actually met a T Rex...

How do you pronounce Diplodocus?

OOH, I get lots of questions about this, but there’s a knack to it. Diplodocus should be pronounced ‘DIP-low DOCK-us’ with the emphasis on the dip and the dock. So now you know!

How old are you?

Oh, that’s a personal question! Well, I am actually looking very good for my age, so I don’t mind telling you. I am 115 years old. I am a cast however, so I’m a lot more youthful than your average Diplodocus. The Diplodocus species that I am cast from lived in the Late Jurassic period, that’s around 155–145 million years ago.

My dinosaur contemporaries would have been the Stegosaurus and Allosaurus. The Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops lived much later, in the Late Cretaceous period (100–66 million years ago), so I never got to meet them. I’m not sure I would want to. I think the T Rex would have been pretty scary and he might have eaten somebody like me!

How many bones do you have?

I have 292 bones. This includes 70+ tail vertebrae and nearly 60 finger and toe bones in my hands and feet. I also have 46 teeth. An adult human skeleton consists of 206 bones and 32 teeth.

What do you eat?

I’m a herbivore and eat soft leaves from ferns and conifer trees.

Some say my teeth are not my prettiest feature, but they are very handy when it comes to filling me up. They are set in rows like a comb, so I can use them to strip soft leaves from the trees. My teeth also like to recycle themselves, and I have a new tooth in each tooth position every 35 days. I know it’s not a good habit these days, buy I don’t tend to chew my food, I just swallow it.

How much do you weigh and long are you?

A diplodocus like me would have weighed between 20000–25000 kg (20–25 tonnes) and be around 26 metres long (around the length of three buses).

How do you hold up such a long neck?

I have up to 19 neck vertebrae, but lots of mammals, like whales and giraffes, have no more than seven, limiting how long their necks can get. I have a very petite head, which is easy to support.

How fast did Dippy move?

My motto has always been that slow and steady winds the race, so I take my time and move at about 5–10 mph.

Who is your closest living relative?

I feel very at home around birds, as they are my closest living relative. Modern birds are members of the theropod group of dinosaurs, and I’m a sauropod. Sauropods and theropods are both different but related types of dinosaur.

What do you think of Rochdale?

I am very impressed with my latest home. More than 60,000 people have already been to see me, so I am feeling really welcome here in the North West. I have to say, the people here are a really friendly bunch!

I am most at home in a natural environment, so I love all the countryside, like the Pennines and places like Healey Dell and Hollingworth Lake. There are also lots of green flag parks around. One of them, Broadfield Park, is only a few minutes’ walk from here, so I will try and take a look at that before I head onto my last stop, Norwich Cathedral, at the end of June.

One of the things I like most about being here is that there was a lot of pollution many years ago because of all the factories, but now people are very interested in protecting the environment. The building I am in, Number One Riverside, has lots of environmentally friendly features, like a biomass boiler and sedum roof, and the River Roch was opened recently in the town centre, so now there is a lot more wildlife in this area.

What’s it like being on tour?

It is tiring, but also lots of fun. I do like to travel and have seen lots of different places in the last few years, like Glasgow, Belfast and Cardiff. Rochdale is one of the most unique venues on the tour and is smaller than some of the other places I’ve seen. I am also in a very modern building, which is unusual for me. It’s a very nice backdrop for all the photos people keep taking of me. I do like to look good.

How do you deal with the press intrusion?

It seems that I am very popular, but I’m trying to keep my feet on the ground and not get too starry. I promise I won’t start asking for a bigger dressing room than everyone else or wearing sunglasses inside. I hope people who visit me are inspired to learn more about the natural world and be inspired to protect our shared earth.

Ruth Parkinson