Sophie the Stegosaurus debuts at London’s Natural History Museum

  The museum acquired the world's most complete Stegosaurus for an undisclosed price with help from a hedge fund manager.

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More than 100 million years ago it tottered around the subtropical forests of what is now Wyoming, incessantly munching on plants while keeping its fearsome spiny tail ready to pummel any predator that dared try its luck. 

Today, Sophie the Stegosaurus has a new home, London's Natural History Museum, where her awe-inspiring presence dominates Earth Hall.

With 85% of its skeleton intact, it is the world's most complete and instantly recognizable dinosaur specimen, notable for the large plates covering its back and the four spear-like horns at the end of its tail.

Although museum scientists don't actually know the gender of their Stegosaurus, “she” has been informally named Sophie, after the daughter of the wealthy hedge fund manager whose donations made the acquisition possible.

At 5.6 meters long and 2.9 meters high, Sophie is relatively small compared to the largest species, which measure up to nine meters.

But what she lacks in size, she makes up for in beauty. 

Sitting on a small stage just inside the museum's Exhibition Street entrance with tail up, body lowered, and jaw open aimed at incoming visitors, he brings the Cretaceous era to life.

Sophie is the first complete dinosaur specimen on display at the Natural History Museum in nearly 100 years. He joins “Dippy” the Diplodocus, whose massive 26-meter-long skeleton – a replica – has stood in the museum's central Hintze Hall hall since 1905.

Professor Paul Barrett, chief dinosaur scientist at the museum, who discovered Sophie while attending an international fossil exhibition in the US, said: “It is an honor to have this extraordinary specimen on permanent display to inspire visitors to the Natural History Museum.

“Discoveries of Stegosaurus fossils are rare. Having the most complete examples in the world for research means we can begin to uncover the secrets behind the evolution and behavior of this fascinating dinosaur species.”

Sophie was still a young adult when she died 150 million years ago. Its fossilized bones were discovered in 2003 at Red Canyon Ranch in Wyoming, USA, by paleontologist Bob Simon.

Prof Barrett led the year-long negotiations that ultimately secured Stegosaurus for London's Natural History Museum despite strong interest from a number of other institutions.

The costs – possibly large – were not disclosed at the request of hedge fund manager Jeremy Herrmann, who provided most of the funds. Another 69 private donors all contributed to the purchase.

The scientific value of this specimen containing 360 individual bones is invaluable. Many bones have been scanned with lasers and imaged with X-ray CT (computed tomography) to create “virtual” models that can be studied in computer simulations.

Researchers are particularly interested in how Sophie moves and eats, as well as the function of her 19 vertebrae, which remain uncertain.

Prof Barrett said: “While we know Stegosaurus was a plant eater, we don't know exactly what types of plants it ate or how well it was able to use its weak-looking teeth to eat and support a body that weighed several meters. tons.

“Another project is to reconstruct models of the hind limbs and hips,” he said. “Stegosaurus moved on all four legs very slowly, we think… It was an unathletic dinosaur. A good modern analogue would be something like a rhinoceros, although a rhinoceros is capable of short bursts of speed.”

Turning to the back plate, he added: “The function of the plate is quite controversial. The original idea was that it was a form of armor but most people don't believe that anymore, as they are quite thin. 

It's possible they provided some sort of passive defense because they would have made the dinosaurs appear much larger from a distance."

Alternatively, they can be used as radiators. They have a large surface area and many blood vessels running through them. Another possibility is that they were used for display, like peacock tails.

Sophie will be on public display at the museum from Thursday.

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