The expedition that discovered the skeleton was funded by Carnegie, specifically to find a sauropod for the museum. They chose to dig in an area near Medicine Bow, Wyoming where a large thigh bone had been found the previous year. In this area is exposed a large portion of the Morrison Formation, a Late Jurassic (approximately 157-150 million years ago) sedimentary formation that is rich in dinosaur bones. Carnegie’s team found the first piece of the skeleton (a toe bone) on 4 July 1899, which led to its being nicknamed “The Star-Spangled Dinosaur.” Excavation continued under the auspices of the museum’s curator, John Bell Hatcher, over the next few years. It was he who determined that this Diplodocus was slightly different from others found earlier, which allowed him to honor his benefactor by naming it Diplodocus carnegii. (Later research has disputed this, but we can understand Hatcher’s action in the context of the 33rd Rule of Acquisition: “it never hurts to suck up to the boss.”) Over the next few years, the carefully excavated bones were shipped back to Pittsburg in a total of 130 crates. Drawings of the bones and sketches of what the completed skeleton would look like were published in many newspapers across the United States and displayed while the section of the museum meant to house the specimen was being built.

            The drawings caught the eye of King Edward VII of England while he was visiting Carnegie at the latter’s Scotland home. The king made an offhand comment about how nice a copy of the skeleton would look in the British Museum. Carnegie happily donated a cast of the skeleton, which was unveiled in May 1905, two years before the original would be displayed in Pittsburg. The dinosaur had already achieved fame in the United States but now had an international audience. Carnegie received many requests for copies like the one given to King Edward, giving him an opportunity to conduct what has been called “Dinosaur Diplomacy.” Over the next decade, he sent copies to museums in Paris, Rome, St. Petersburg, Vienna, Berlin, and a few other cities. He hoped to foster cooperation among the scientific communities of the countries, with the idea that this could foster cooperation in the increasingly politically tense years leading into the Great War. It also gave Carnegie an opportunity to showcase American scientific achievement and his own philanthropy.

            These efforts, though they did not have the effect of cooling martial tensions in Europe, did cause the Diplodocus to become the best-known of all dinosaurs worldwide. Exhibits of the cast skeleton still travel around the world, including the one from the British Museum, which was taken down in 2017 and sent on tour. This is the second time it was completely disassembled, the first was during the Second World War, when it was stored in crates in the museum’s basement to protect it from Nazi bombing raids. It has also been adjusted many times over the years as the understanding of dinosaur stature has improved: it began with its tail dragging on the ground and head bowed down to graze but now both are high in the air with the tail acting as a counterbalance to the animal’s equally long neck. And, last but not least, it served as the inspiration for the Krayt Dragon in Star Wars and was also featured in the mostly-forgotten Disney movie One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing! While the Diplodocus may not be everyone’s favorite dinosaur, it’s one that stays in our minds well past the childhood phase of deep dinosaur study.