Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton to be auctioned in Europe – 03/11/2023 – Science

a skeleton of tyrannosaurus rex, a species that lived 67 million years ago, will be auctioned on April 18 in Switzerland. The announcement was made this Saturday (11) by the Koller auction house.

Called Trinity, the almost 3.9 meter high and 11.6 meter long skeleton has an estimated value of between US$6.5 million and US$8.65 million, according to the catalog by Koller, which is headquartered in Zurich.

“It’s a very low estimate,” said Christian Link, a natural history expert at Koller.

It is the third time in the world and the first time in Europe that a skeleton of tyrannosaurus rex is offered for sale, according to Koller. Most skeletons of this type are found in museums.

More than half of Trinity’s skeleton was assembled using bones from three different specimens of T. rex found between 2008 and 2013 in the states of Montana and Wyoming, in the northwestern United States, according to the catalog.

Last year, auction house Christie’s had to suspend the sale in Hong Kong of another skeleton of T. rexalso from Montana, due to the doubts that aroused some parts of the skeleton.

Only 32 skeletons of T. rex adults, among the largest predators that lived on Earth, were found in the world, according to a study published in 2021 by the scientific journal Nature.

A complete skeleton of Gorgosaurus, a species of dinosaur cousin to the T. rex which lived more than 77 million years ago, was sold in July by Sotherby’s in New York for $6.1 million.