Watch a dinosaur be dismantled

updated 2:58 p.m. ET March 24, 2005

PITTSBURGH - What could be better than seeing the first tyrannosaurus rex ever discovered?  Watching it being taken apart.  Visitors to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, which has one of the oldest and largest dinosaur collections in the nation, will be able to watch as the museum's collection of fossilized dinosaur skeletons are taken apart before a renovation of the museum's almost century-old Dinosaur Hall.

"People can come in and watch the disarticulation process and watch as they are being reconstructed.  We are combining the two things kids of any age love: construction and dinosaurs," said Bill DeWalt, director of the museum.

The first dinosaur to come down will be the allosaurus.  A large two-legged predator like the T. rex, the allosaurus will be decapitated Monday.  Four other dinosaurs will also be taken down and more may be assembled over the next two years as part of the renovation.

The $35 million renovation will triple the size of the museum's Dinosaur Hall, which started with one skeleton — the sauropod Diplodocus carnegii (named for steel magnate Andrew Carnegie).  After it's done, the museum will have room to show off more of its dinosaurs in more dramatic and scientifically accurate poses.

The dinosaurs are now in turn-of-the-century poses with their tails dragging on the ground; the tyrannosaurus stands like a kangaroo or Godzilla.

The Pittsburgh museum is among the last major natural history museums to update its dinosaur collection to reflect current scientific thought.

"Dinosaurs were always viewed as bulky, hulking looking animals, so nobody was moving fast. If you look at the 1920s, they are old and slow and big, hulking reptiles," said Judd Case, a paleontologist and dean at St. Mary's College of California.

Early paleontologists weren't concerned as much with figuring out what dinosaurs looked like so much as where they could find the next one. 

"It was like finding a new stamp to add to the collection. People were not looking at them in terms of taxonomy," Case said.

In the 1970s, paleontologists and paleobiologists began to challenge widely held views of how dinosaurs carried themselves and starting taking harder looks at what the bones could tell them. Now, scientists believe few dinosaurs dragged their tails on the ground; most likely held them aloft and used them for balance.

MORE FROM SCIENCE

Science Section Front

10 failed doomsday predictions Chimps don't talk: Now experts may know why Auctioneer: T. rex fossil headed for museum Monkey business: Baboon may have been mates Cosmic Log: Science stories that soar Israel displays coins from ancient Jewish revolt Human extinction: How could it happen? New dinosaur species may fill evolutionary gap Bug wears armor made of poo King Tut's tomb to get makeover Science Section Front   Add Science headlines to your news reader: