JAKARTA - A nearly complete stegosaurus dinosaur skeleton was sold at Sotheby's auction in New York United States (US) at a record price of 44.6 million US dollars (or equivalent to Rp741 million), the largest amount ever paid for a fossil.
The dinosaurs, dubbed "Apex", which lived between 146 and 161 million years ago in the final Jurassic period, were originally expected to sell for between USD 4 million and USD 6 million, according to the auction house.
The ABC News review, Thursday, July 18, Sotheby's said Apex was the most complete and most conserved Stegosaurus specimen in size ever found.
The skeleton was found on private land in Moffat County, Colorado in northwest Colorado and on the border with Utah and Wyoming in May 2022 by commercial paleontologist Jason Cooper. The excavation is complete in 2023, according to Sotheby's.
This region is an area where many other dinosaur fossils were discovered and is home to the National Dinosaur Monument.
The Apex is 11 feet tall and 27 feet long from nose to tail. The skeleton consists of 319 bones, 254 of which are fossils and the rest are printed or suspended 3D.
It is not clear whether Apex is male or female.
"Judging from the overall size and level of bone development, it can be determined that the skeleton belongs to a large and strong adult individual, and evidence of joint inflammation, especially as seen in the unification of 4 sacred bones, will show that the skeleton is living to this day. the elderly," Sotheby's wrote on its website.
The specimen shows no signs of injuries related to combat, or evidence of post-mortem scavengers, and shows a number of interesting pathologies.
Apex is not the first dinosaur to sell millions. One of the largest and most conserved Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons ever discovered -- dubbed "Sue" -- sold at auction in 1997 for $8.4 million and now on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
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Sue is the most complete fossil ever sold to another Tyrannosaurus rex framework, dubbed "Stan", sold at auction in October 2020 for USD 31.8 million.
Officials at the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism told National Geographic they had the dinosaur and its skeleton would be displayed at a new natural history museum that will open in 2025.
"The 'Apex', according to its current name, inspires bidders globally to become the most valuable fossil ever sold at auction," Cassandra Hatton, head of globally popular science and culture Sotheby, said in a statement to ABC News.
"This sale has been done for years, and at every opportunity, we have worked closely with Jason Cooper, from his inventions at Dinosaurs, Colorado, to his sales in New York," the statement continued.
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