Dippy the Dinosaur comes to the North West

The Natural History Museum's world famous dinosaur, Dippy, is on an eight stop tour of the UK, and he opens in Rochdale on Monday 10 February.

Dippy on Tour has proved to be a national record breaker, with over 1.5m people visiting him at venues across his tour, which has included major cities like Belfast, Glasgow and Birmingham.

Once he's been constructed, visitors will be able to see Dippy at the council's customer service centre and there'll be a special exhibition at an art gallery in the town.

Dippy is a replica of the Diplodocus, a herbivorous dinosaur from the Jurassic period, which is around 150 million years ago.

Fossils of the original Diplodocus were found by workmen in Wyoming, USA in 1898 and the famous Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie decided to fund a full expedition, so the whole skeleton could be unearthed.

FIVE FACTS ABOUT DINOSAURS

1. Dinosaur fossils have been found on all seven continents.

2. There are roughly 700 known species of extinct dinosaurs.

3. The earliest known dinosaur appeared about 245 million years ago.

4. The name "Velociraptor" means speedy thief.

5. A T-rex bite was more than twice as powerful as a lion's bite.