2024-07-18 04:05:00
The Tyrannosaurus rex, king of the dinosaur world, has been dethroned.
Stegosaurus fossils, from the late Jurassic, named APEX and unusually finished in its assembly, will be auctioned in New York this Wednesday at Sotheby’s headquarters for the record price of 44.6 million dollars. This sale surpasses the mark established TinT.rex skeleton sold for $31.8 million in 2020.
The sale price eleven times exceeds the initial lower estimate (estimated to rise four to six million) and shows that the market offer for prehistoric specimens continues to rise, an issue that worries paleontologists because of the fear that these pieces, of. enormous scientific value, lost in the hands of private owners without revealing the mysteries that remain in the bones.
The sale was closed to great applause, after fifteen minutes of tug of war from a total of seven interested parties, in a global telephone dispute. The auction house did not reveal the name of the buyer, an American, although it confirmed in a statement that the new owner will “inspect this specimen for an institution in the United States”, a circumstance that would reassure students.
“APEX “He was born in America and will continue to be in America,” according to the buyer’s words reproduced in Sotheby’s statement.
This specimen was found in May 2022 in the state of Colorado. Jason Cooper, a commercial paleontologist, went for a walk with a friend around his property, near the town called Dinosaur, a name that seems more than right. While walking through that terrain in Moffat County they found a piece of femur sticking out of a rock.
That femur allowed us to find a stegosaurus fossil, the largest and most complete ever found. He was given a nickname APEX because of its exceptional quality, with its characteristic back plates and cave rib cage that walked the Earth around 161 million years ago.
It is 3.3 meters high and 8.2 meters long from nose to tail. It stands out for its unusual proportions and extremely long legs. It is double that Sophiethe most complete stegosaurus known to date. APEX It is located in the case of an aggressive attack on steel armor. It is considered an almost complete specimen as it contains 254 bones out of a total of around 319. There are even remains of fossilized skin.
The fossil shows traces of arthritis, which suggests APEX He lived to a great age. In this specimen, no signs of injuries related to fights were found, nor were they eaten by scavengers when they were dead.
Overall, according to Sotheby’s description of the device, the bones are “preserved in exquisite detail, showing little distortion and retaining much of their original shape and surface features”. The preservation of the complex is good since the skeleton was buried in hard sandstone, which protected it from deformation.
“This specimen is very exciting because it is huge and has an incredible level of preservation,” said Cassandra Hatton, head of science and popular culture at Sotheby’s, who has collaborated with Cooper since the discovery of the specimen to the process documenting the whole thing, from excavation to restoration.
The price paid for the stegosaurus APEX overshadows the paid by Tinthe T.rex that ended up in a natural history museum that was being developed in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and was a high point in the fossil trade.
The starting point of this boom was in 1997, when another specimen of Tyrannosaurus rex, Sue, also auctioned at Sotheby’s, went for 8.36 million dollars, about 16.22 million at the current exchange rate. It was housed in the Field Museum in Chicago.
In 2022, Deinonychus (the inspiration for the velociraptors in the movie theater) was sold. Jurassic Park) is called Extract for 12.4 million, as well as gorgosaurus for 6.1 million.
But there were signs that sellers often overestimated the value of their offers. The auction of APEX. Some paleontologists laughed when they found out that $44.6 million (including taxes) had been paid for that stegosaurus fossil. After the laughter, the tears. They have been clamoring to advance the understanding of dinosaurs in recent years.
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