French auction houses Colin du Bocage and Barbarossa have announced that the dinosaur skeleton up for auction is the largest and most complete skeleton ever found. Its price has surpassed its original estimate of between $11 million and $22 million (around Rs 92 million to Rs 185 million) since the opening of pre-registration offers in July.
The skeleton of Apatosaurus was discovered in Wyoming, USA in 2018 and its length is 20.50 meters. About 80 percent of the bones it contains belong to the same dinosaur. This makes it the most complete dinosaur skeleton ever discovered.
This is the oldest discovery ever made…
According to information received from the news agency, the founder and auctioneer of Collin du Bocage, Olivier Collin du Bocage, said in a statement that it is the oldest discovery in our lifetime. Vulcan is the largest and most complete dinosaur skeleton ever created, surpassing any other skeleton sold before.
Dinosaur skeletons were sold even before this.
In 1997, the T-Rex ‘Sue’ sold for $8.4 million. The dinosaur skeleton market continues to boom after the record-breaking sale of the “Apex” stegosaurus for $44.6 million earlier this year. Sales of ‘Vulcan’ are expected to enter the record books.
The buyer will get the skeleton and much more.
The buyer will receive GPS points and excavation plans, as well as an osteological map and the rights to officially name the dinosaur and copyright the specimen. ‘Vulcano’ is one of the most complete sauropod fossils from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation.
This is the specialty of this dinosaur
It has been studied by renowned paleontology experts, including Christian Foth of the University of Rostock, Germany. Those who have recently discovered the specimen as a new species of dinosaur. According to their analysis, the Vulcan dinosaur has similar characteristics to both Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus, but Apatosaurus is more similar to Ajax while sharing characteristics with another recognized species of Apatosaurus, Apatosaurus lewisae.
The supposed link between the two species
This unique combination of features suggests that Vulcan may represent an intermediate species between Apatosaurus ajax and Apatosaurus lewisae. Based on the substances and deposits found in the fossilized soil layer, it was classified as a herbivore.
The first skeleton of its kind, consisting of up to 80 percent bones from a single body.
The model of Apatosaurus exhibited at the Museum of Natural History in New York is made from skeletons of three different dinosaurs. Vulcan is an 80 percent complete dinosaur and also includes a portion of the skull and gastralia (floating bones), rare elements that are absent in most specimens.
As dinosaur specimens are discussed among the paleontological community and scientists at fossil fairs and in the art world and auctions, there is more speculation about where ‘Vulcan’ will go after final bids are taken at the auction. November 16. The dinosaur is on display at the Dampierre-en-Yvelines castle, outside Paris, and has been visited by a record number of more than 40,000 visitors since the exhibition opened in July.
