A photo recently went viral in Tampa which showed a mysterious ‘monster’ in the city center. Taken from behind, this picture showed the back of a giant, brown creature with a tail. Naturally, people were puzzled and asked what it is. In fairness, it’s not everyday that you open your office window to see something like this across the street.

Now, thankfully this isn’t some kind of Godzilla invasion, and neither is it filming for a cool movie. Instead, the explanation is fairly mundane. The animal in question is a dinosaur. Specifically, it’s a large inflatable triceratops. So, what is this doing in Tampa? It turns out that the children’s museum just got the world’s largest triceratops fossil which is currently available to visit.

Also known as ‘Big John‘, this fossil has actually been in Tampa since late May. With this in mind, you could argue that the inflatable triceratops is actually a brilliant piece of marketing. The fact that people have gone out of their way to photograph and discuss it means that it’s done its job in terms of creating an eye-catching spectacle to advertise the museum.

From this angle, it all makes sense. Interestingly, Florida has a long history of finding dinosaur fossils – however, it turns out that dinosaurs did not live in the state. This means that Big John is probably the first triceratops to visit Tampa, and sadly he may be the last.