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A large dinosaur’s skeleton has fetched $44.6m (\u00a334m) at a Sotheby’s auction in New York City – the most ever paid for a fossil.<\/p>\n
The plant-eating stegosaurus – nicknamed Apex – is 11ft (3.4m) tall and 27ft long from nose to tail, and “ranks high among the most complete skeletons ever found”, Sotheby’s said.<\/p>\n
It was sold to an anonymous buyer, who said: “Apex was born in America and is going to stay in America” – in what is seen as a hint that it might be loaned to a US institution.<\/p>\n
Apex was discovered by chance by a palaeontologist in 2022 near the suitably named town of Dinosaur in the western US state of Colorado.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
“The finest stegosaurus to appear at auction, ‘Apex’ has made history today [Wednesday] selling for $44.6 million at Sotheby\u2019s to become the most valuable fossil ever sold at auction,” Sotheby’s said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The fossil exceeded its pre-sale estimates by more than 11 times, going “to applause after 15 minutes”, the auction house said.<\/p>\n
Seven buyers took part in the bidding process for the largest stegosaurus fossil ever found.<\/p>\n
Apex was discovered by Jason Cooper, a professional fossil hunter.<\/p>\n
Mr Cooper dubbed it Apex because its formidable dimensions would have made it a dominant animal in its environment.<\/p>\n
Apex is believed to have roamed the planet about 150 million years ago during the Late Jurassic Period.<\/p>\n
The previous dinosaur fossil sale record was set in 2020, when a Tyrannosaurus Rex – known as Stan – fetched $31.8m.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n