Northern Ireland

More than 100k visitors for Dippy the dinosaur at Ulster Museum

Dippy the dinosaur has had more than 100,000 visitors since he arrived at the Ulster Museum in Belfast
Dippy the dinosaur has had more than 100,000 visitors since he arrived at the Ulster Museum in Belfast Dippy the dinosaur has had more than 100,000 visitors since he arrived at the Ulster Museum in Belfast

DIPPY the dinosaur has had more than 100,000 visitors since he arrived at the Ulster Museum in Belfast.

Footfall figures revealed yesterday by the National Museums Northern Ireland show that the Dippy on Tour: A Natural History Adventure exhibition has been a massive hit with people in the north since it arrived in September.

The Natural History Museum's iconic diplodocus cast filled one of the museum’s biggest exhibition halls when he arrived 10 weeks ago on the third stop of his three-year UK tour.

Dippy is a plaster cast replica of a diplodocus skeleton, made in 1902 at the request of King Edward VII, and containing up of 292 separate pieces.

The iconic 26-metre-long diplodocus cast has been touring UK museums over recent months, starting out in Dorset earlier this year.

It will remain at the Ulster Museum until January 6 before moving on to the next leg of his UK wide tour, which will see it shown at museums and cathedrals in Birmingham, Glasgow, Newcastle, Cardiff, Rochdale and Norwich.

It is expected that five million people will see the skeleton on the tour.

Admission is free. To make a booking and for further information on the exhibition and all the Dippy events, please visit www.nmni.com/dippy