repare to be amazed as the most expensive and complete dinosaur fossil is set to be displayed in New York City.
This fossil belongs to Stegosaurus — a large dinosaur with bony plates that lived during the Late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago.
This fossilized specimen, dubbed Apex, is the most complete of its kind ever found.
The 150-milion-year-old fossil is set to be exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History in New York from December 8 onwards.
Most intact fossil
Over 80 Stegosaurus fossils have been discovered so far. However, very few are complete or nearly complete skeletons.
Most of these fossils are fragmentary, consisting of only a few bones or parts of bones. This makes it difficult to study the complete anatomy and biology of Stegosaurus.
This most complete and well-preserved Stegosaurus specimen was recovered from the Morrison Formation near Dinosaur, Colorado, in 2022.
Interestingly, the remains included 254 of approximately 320 bone elements. This level of completeness is rare for a dinosaur that roamed the Earth 150 million years ago.
3D-printed and sculpted components were used to reconstruct the missing skeletal elements. This helped the experts to piece together the dinosaur skeleton.
Apex stands 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) tall and measures 27 feet (8.2 meters) long. The specimen is mounted in a defensive posture with a spiked tail raised high.
This incredible specimen was recently purchased by billionaire Ken Griffin for a whopping $45 million. As per AP, Griffin is a prominent billionaire hedge fund manager and longstanding museum supporter.
The amount is the “most ever paid for dinosaur remains.”
“This partnership allows Apex to have pride of place at a museum world-renowned for its dinosaur collection and for its longstanding leadership in paleontology and, even more exciting, enables us to pursue specialized Stegosaurus research centered around this extraordinary and scientifically important specimen,” said Sean Decatur, president of the museum, in a statement as AP reported.
