Photo: John. P. Wilson

The first baby diplodocus skull ever found, a young diplodocus named “Andrew” was revealed today by PhD student Cary Woodruff.

Researchers have freed this potentially record-setting dinosaur from its stony slumber. After uncovering the remains, the scientists published a study Thursday in Scientific Reports, in which they argue that the skull is the smallest yet found from a group of long-necked dinosaurs called diplodocids. The little fellow even has a nickname: Andrew, after the steel baron and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who funded paleontology research and has a diplodocid species named after him.

Full coverage can be read here:

National Geographic:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/10/news-diplodocus-juveniles-fossils-jurassic-paleontology/

CBC: https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/baby-diplodocus-skull-1.4855910

Smithsonian: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/tiny-skull-illuminates-lives-giant-dinosaur-180970514/

Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-32620-x

Reconstruction of the young Diplodocus “Andrew” next to an adult, showing how every aspect of the skull radically changes as the animal grows. (Andrey Atuchin)