Glowing Dinosaursby Firoiu Dan Nicolae Reserve a copy
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Diplodocus in blue and pink with a pale skull, neck held low and a long tail

N° 055 · III. Giants

Diplodocus

The Whip-tailed Giant

Say it: DIP-low DOCK-us

Species
Diplodocus, Marsh 1878
Name means
Double beam
Lived
Late Jurassic, about 152 to 145 million years ago
Found
Western United States
Length
About 26 m
Weight
About 15 tonnes
Diet
Herbivore

Three things to know

Named for its tail bones

Its name means double beam, after the two-pronged bones under its tail, which many other long-necked dinosaurs turned out to have too.

A whip, but not a supersonic one

A 1997 computer model suggested a relative’s tail could crack faster than sound. A 2022 engineering model found the tip reached about 100 km/h.

A new tooth every 35 days

Growth lines inside its teeth show each was replaced about every 35 days, with up to five spares waiting behind every one in use.

Every fact on this page is traced to a published source, listed at the back of the book.

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When and where Diplodocus lived

Diplodocus lived about 152 to 145 million years ago, in the Late Jurassic, across what is now the western United States. Like Brachiosaurus and Stegosaurus, it is known from the Morrison Formation, rocks laid down by rivers on a broad, seasonally dry plain. Several kinds of long-necked dinosaur lived there side by side, each feeding at a different height or on different plants.

How Diplodocus was discovered and named

Othniel Charles Marsh of Yale named Diplodocus in 1878. A nearly complete skeleton found in Wyoming in 1899 became the species Diplodocus carnegii, named after the industrialist Andrew Carnegie, who paid for the dig. Carnegie then sent casts of it to museums around the world, from the Natural History Museum in London in 1905 to Paris, Berlin and beyond, which made Diplodocus one of the most familiar dinosaurs on Earth.

How Diplodocus lived

Diplodocus was very long but slender for a giant, with most of its length in its neck and whip-like tail. At the front of its jaws stood rows of thin, peg-like teeth, used to strip leaves from branches. It probably held its neck lower than once drawn and swept it from side to side, feeding over a wide area without moving its body. Its long tail may have been used for balance, signalling or defence.

Diplodocus in Glowing Dinosaurs

Diplodocus is entry N° 055 of the atlas, in the chapter III. Giants. Its spread follows the same layout as every other dinosaur in the book: on the left, its name and how to say it, the epithet The Whip-tailed Giant, the three facts above, field notes and the six signs that show when it lived, how big it was, how dangerous it would have been, where it was found, what it ate and how it fought. On the right is the full glowing plate: diplodocus in blue and pink with a pale skull, neck held low and a long tail. Two more plates of Diplodocus appear elsewhere in the book, and each can also be ordered as a signed work for the wall, printed on wood or acrylic under glass. In the same chapter you will also find Brachiosaurus.

Why Diplodocus glows

No dinosaur is known to have glowed, and the book says so plainly. The light is the artist’s way of seeing inside the animal: in the plate of Diplodocus, bones, muscles and outline shine through a dark ground, so the shape of the skull, the length of the neck and tail and the build of the legs can be read at once, the way a fossil skeleton is read in a museum hall. The colours are chosen to separate bone from muscle and to make each animal recognisable across the whole atlas, while every fact printed beside the picture is checked against published research.

Questions about Diplodocus

How big was Diplodocus?

Diplodocus measured about 26 m from nose to tail and weighed about 15 tonnes. The size panel on its spread in the book draws it beside a person, so its scale can be seen at a glance.

When did Diplodocus live?

It lived in the Late Jurassic, about 152 to 145 million years ago. On the timeline in the book, its place is marked between the first dinosaurs, about 230 million years ago, and the end of the age of dinosaurs, 66 million years ago.

Where have Diplodocus fossils been found?

Its fossils have been found in Western United States. The map on its spread in the book marks the places where its bones were dug up.

What did Diplodocus eat?

Its diet: herbivore. The diet sign in the book shows this with a simple symbol, so young readers can sort the plant-eaters from the meat-eaters.

What does the name Diplodocus mean?

The name means “double beam”. The full scientific name is Diplodocus, Marsh 1878: the genus, the species and the scientist who named it, with the year. It is pronounced DIP-low DOCK-us.

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