What’s On reveals the name of the dinosaur in Dubai Mall. The Dubai Mall dinosaur – a Diplodocus longus from 155 million years ago – will be named DubaiDino.

By Chloe Henderson

The 155 million year-old dinosaur fossil standing proud in Dubai Mall has been named.

After a three month social media campaign received more than 8,000 entries, officials have decided the Diplodocus longus fossil will now be known as ‘DubaiDino’.

Coming in at a whopping 24.4 meters in length, and 7.6 meters in height, the sauropod fossil is the first upright-standing skeleton to comprise of actual bone, with 90 per cent of its original bone intact.

The free-to-enter naming competition was won by self-proclaimed dinosaur enthusiast Johara Al Bayedh, an Emirates NBD bank manager and Saudi national.

Ms Al Bayedh’s suggestion beat the thousands of other names submitted on Twitter, where the competition’s #NameTDMDino hashtag went viral.

“I’m a big fan of dinosaurs and I had submitted three names,” said Ms Al Bayedh, who admitted to having tracked the story of the long-necked, whip-tailed dinosaur skeleton since its rehoming in the UAE earlier this year.

“I thought the DubaiDino alternative was a good way of combining two unique experiences together, the dinosaur and how unique Dubai is as a city,” she added.

Reaction to the rather obvious name has been indifferent. Writing on Twitter, user @sarcasmonaut, joked: “With a name like that, I’m sure that dinosaur is glad it’s extinct.”

User @nouraazim added: “#DubaiDino? Surely they could have come up with a better name than that.” And @EasyOnUrPocket wrote: “@TheDubaiMall has revealed the Dinosaur will be named #DubaiDino .. is it just us or do u find the name a bit BLAH! and a bit too obvious.”

Our favourite, though, was @danielmarcevans, who wrote: “BREAKING: ‘Dubai declared world number one in unoriginal, bad dinosaur names’.”

The competition prize includes a five-night, six-day, all-inclusive package to see Jurassic Park in Universal Studios, Florida, USA. Ms Al Bayedh said she planned to take her sisters with her on the trip.

Of the trip, she explained: “I’ve watched all the Jurassic Park movies, so this should be fun. It will be our first time at Universal, so we are all really looking forward to it.”

Unveiled by Dubai-based developer Emaar on March 10, the DubaiDino exhibit is intended to educate, with a dedicated team of on-site specialists present to share insight with visitors.