A massive Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton was auctioned off in Switzerland on Tuesday, and investors needed a Jurassic-sized check to get their hands on it.
The composite skeleton, dubbed Trinity, is made up of 293 bones collected from three sites across Montana and Wyoming. It stands 38 feet long and 12.8 feet high, The Associated Press reported, and sold for $5.3 million at the Koller auction house in Zurich.
Trinity is made up of more than half "original bone material," according to Koller, which describes it as "one of the most spectacular T. rex skeletons in existence, a well-preserved and brilliantly restored fossil." Finding a preserved, original T. rex skull — like the one on Trinity — is also a rare feat.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"When dinosaurs died in the Jurassic or Cretaceous periods, they often lost their heads," said scientific advisor Nils Knoetschke, per AP, adding, "Most dinosaurs are found without their skulls, but here we have truly original Tyrannosaurus skull bones that all originate from the same specimen."
Adding to the rarity is the fact that Trinity is "not a cast or a copy, it's the original. And there are very few," Hans Jacob-Siber, a paleontologist at Switzerland's Aathal Dinosaur Museum, told Reuters. "In fact, until about 1970 or 1980, there used to be less than a dozen Tyrannosaurus [skeletons]."
Trinity was just the third completed T. rex skeleton to be offered at auction, and the first ever in Europe. Two other T. rexes found in North America, Sue and Stan, were sold for $8.4 million and $31.8 million, respectively, CNN reported. Sue is a permanent fixture at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, and Stan is slated to headline a new natural history museum opening in Abu Dhabi in 2025.
-
Judge rejects top state charges in Mangione caseSpeed Read If convicted, Mangione faces up to life in state prison
-
UN panel finds Israeli genocide in GazaSpeed Read The report found that Israeli leaders had committed ‘four of the five “genocidal acts”’ prohibited under the U.N. Genocide Convention
-
Trump allies reportedly poised to buy TikTokSpeed Read Under the deal, U.S. companies would own about 80% of the company
-
SpaceX breaks Starship losing streak in 10th testspeed read The Starship rocket's test flight was largely successful, deploying eight dummy satellites during its hour in space
-
Rabbits with 'horns' sighted across Coloradospeed read These creatures are infected with the 'mostly harmless' Shope papilloma virus
-
Lithium shows promise in Alzheimer's studySpeed Read Potential new treatments could use small amounts of the common metal
-
Scientists discover cause of massive sea star die-offSpeed Read A bacteria related to cholera has been found responsible for the deaths of more than 5 billion sea stars
-
'Thriving' ecosystem found 30,000 feet underseaSpeed Read Researchers discovered communities of creatures living in frigid, pitch-black waters under high pressure
-
Bacteria can turn plastic waste into a painkillerUnder the radar The process could be a solution to plastic pollution
-
Scientists want to regrow human limbs. Salamanders could lead the way.Under the radar Humans may already have the genetic mechanism necessary
-
New York plans first nuclear plant in 36 yearsSpeed Read The plant, to be constructed somewhere in upstate New York, will produce enough energy to power a million homes
