Exceptionally well-preserved Stegosaurus skeleton up for auction in New York
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Publicado 2024-07-11
"Apex is the largest, most complete Stegosaurus ever found," said Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby's global head of science and popular culture.
The auction represents a significant milestone as it marks the first time an auction house has been involved in bringing a dinosaur specimen to market right from its discovery. Sotheby's closely collaborated with the owner, renowned commercial paleontologist Jason Cooper, to document the entire process - from its discovery and excavation to its restoration, preparation, and mounting.
Apex was discovered in May 2022 in Colorado's Morrison Formation, but "it wasn't until February of this year that we had the complete picture of what we were really dealing with," said Hatton.
"We decided to start working together based on faith that we would find something incredible," she continued. "It might have just been a skull, we didn't know, but we just started going and it's been the most incredible surprise to find out that actually, this is like the best one that's ever been found."
Stegosaurus lived around 150 million years ago during the Jurassic period and are known for their distinctive dermal armor that extends from their neck to tail.
The well-preserved Apex, about 70% complete, exhibits no signs of combat or predation-related injuries, suggesting a peaceful life. However, evidence of arthritis indicates it lived to an advanced age, marking it as a singular specimen of its kind.
The name Apex was given to underscore its prominence within the Stegosaurus family.
Dinosaurs are "awesome," said Hatton. "Who wouldn't be excited about these massive creatures? I think we've been talking about them forever. We've kind of built them into mythology, the concept of dragons and Godzilla. I mean, Godzilla is based on Stegosaurus, it's just a bipedal Stegosaurus, basically. It's just something that's really captured our imagination. I think the fact that they're gone, they're completely gone, our earth was so wildly different, ruled by completely different creatures and all we have left are the fossilized evidence of their existence. I think that it's also a really important reminder that the same thing could easily happen to us, and we're much smaller and more fragile than they are."
Apex carries an estimated price tag of between $4 million - $6 million. This figure places Apex among the most valuable dinosaur fossils ever to be offered in the market. - Report from Reuters
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Todos los comentarios (3)
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That's very interesting
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If I found one on my land I would want to give it to a museum instead. Your yard might turn into a dig site, (nothing really deep) but it would not be controversial to say the least. I remember the Time Team episodes where they go around asking to dig people's yards for old buildings of many centuries past, maybe there should be a dino hunter version of time team for mostly America. Or China, they found alot of species already and it's not gonna stop any time soon.
