"Each one that is lost from the public trust, is part of that already fragmentary history that we will never collectively recover."īut many professional fossil sellers reject the idea that specimens in private hands are lost to science. "That fossils like this are evidence of Earth's deep past is what makes them valuable, unlike art objects or other items of trade whose value comes from human creativity and artistry," the letter said. rex, highlighting that the price tag would likely ensure the specimen ended up with a private owner, robbing scientists and the public of the chance to learn from it further. The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology wrote an open letter decrying the sale of the baby T. The move also drew criticism from the broader academic and scientific communities. In a statement, museum Director Leonard Krishtalka also said Detrich had been asked to remove references to the university from the listing. The museum was quick to clarify that it was not involved in the sale, and that the fossil was being removed and returned to Detrich. His first post emphasised the fossil's prominent display at the school as a key selling point. He said he thought the public ought to see it.īut last week, without warning the university, he listed the T. rex - he decided to lend it to the Natural History Museum at the University of Kansas, near his home in Lawrence, in 2017. Once experts helped Detrich understand what he had - the bones of a 4-year-old T. Cage famously had to give up a Tyrannosaurus bataar skull he'd outbid DiCaprio for in 2007 because it may have been illegally smuggled out of Mongolia. Most fossil-rich counties, such as China and Mongolia, have strict laws surrounding the collection and sale of fossils. In the US, fossils found on private land belong to whomever digs them up. rex on private land he'd leased in Jordan, Montana, in 2013. Two years ago, a triceratops skeleton that the Guinness World Records declared as the world's biggest, known as "Big John," was sold for 6.6 million euros ($7.2 million) to a private collector at a Paris auction.Detrich, 71, who is not a paleontologist, discovered the T. rex skeletons that were auctioned off, according to Koller: Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History bought "Sue" for $8.4 million over a quarter-century ago, and "Stan" sold for nearly $32 million three years ago. The two areas the bones for Trinity came from were also the source of other T. Hollywood movies such as the blockbuster "Jurassic Park" franchise have added to the public fascination with the carnivorous creature. A study published two years ago in the journal Science estimated that about 2.5 billion of the dinosaurs had lived.
rex roamed the Earth between 65 million and 67 million years ago. "But here we have truly original Tyrannosaurus skull bones that all originate from the same specimen." In fact, most dinosaurs are found without their skulls," Nils Knoetschke, a scientific adviser who was quoted in the auction catalog. "When dinosaurs died in the Jurassic or Cretaceous periods, they often lost their heads during deposition ]of the remains into rocks]. The auction house said the skull was particularly rare and also remarkably well-preserved. Koller said "original bone material" comprised more than half of the restored skeleton. rex, dubbed "Trinity," was built from specimens retrieved from three sites in the Hell Creek and Lance Creek formations of Montana and Wyoming between 20. Including the "buyer's premium" and fees, the sale came to 5.5 million Swiss francs (about $6.1 million), Koller said.Ī picture of "Trinity" is seen during sale of the skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus rex by Koller auction house in Zurich, on April 18, 2023. Green did not immediately identify the buyer. I hope it's going to be shown somewhere in public." "It could be that it was a composite - that could be why the purists didn't go for it," Karl Green, the auction house's marketing director, said by phone. The composite skeleton was a showpiece of an auction that featured some 70 lots, and the skull was set up next to the auctioneer's podium throughout. rex skeleton would go up for auction in Europe.
Koller had said Tuesday's sale would be the first time such a T. rex skeleton measuring 11.6 meters long (38 feet long) and 3.9 meters high (12.8 feet) high came in under the anticipated range of 5 million to 8 million francs when it went under the hammer at the Koller auction house in Zurich. Nearly 300 Tyrannosaurus rex bones that were dug up from three sites in the United States and assembled into a single skeleton sold at Tuesday at a Switzerland auction for 4.8 million francs ($5.3 million), below the expected price.Ĭrafted into an open-mouth pose, the T.
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