Museums over the years have featured some major pieces of history by displaying the skeletons of various species of dinosaurs . Only one, however, has ever been found with green bones. And this fall, you'll be able to see it for yourself.
Gnatalie, the green-boned long-necked dinosaur from an unnamed species, will be on display at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County starting this fall. Gnatalie (pronounced like "Natalie") was first found when NHMLAC Dinosaur Institute researchers were digging in a quarry in the Badlands of Utah back in 2007. She got her name from the gnats that plagued the excavators while they dug, and her bones' distinct hue came from the green mineral celadonite filling the bones during fossilization, according to museum officials.
"Dinosaurs are a great vehicle for teaching our visitors about the nature of science, and what better than a green, almost 80-foot-long dinosaur to engage them in the process of scientific discovery and make them reflect on the wonders of the world we live in?" Luis M. Chiappe of the museum’s Dinosaur Institute said in a statement about his team's discovery.
Gnatalie is the first discovery of her species, which resembles the sauropod species diplodocus. It's estimated her species lived 150 million years ago in the late Jurassic Era, making it older than tyrannosaurus rex . Other well-known sauropod species include the brontosaurus and brachiosaurus.
The more than 75 feet of Gnatalie, the long-necked dinosaur, will stretch the imaginations of visitors from Los Angeles and around the world. For the first time, it will bring our storied fossils to the public. The biggest specimen on display at the Museum will also be free to view for anyone.
If you're in L.A. this fall, you can see Gnatalie for yourself at the museum's welcome center with or without a ticket.
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