66 million years old, to be auctioned
The sale of Big John is expected to fetch between €1.2 million and €1.5 million at the October 21 auction at the Drouot auction house in Paris
The skeleton of a giant 66-million-year-old Triceratops fossil could soon belong to a lucky dinosaur enthusiast – that is, if they have an estimated value of €1.2 million to spare.
The specimen, nicknamed Big John, has a skull measuring 2.62 metres long and 2 metres wide, while its two largest horns are 1.1 metres long and more than 30 centimetres wide at their base, capable of withstanding 16 tonnes of pressure, according to auctioneers Binoche et Giquello.
The dinosaur lived in Laramidia, an island continent that stretched from present-day Alaska to Mexico, and died in an ancient floodplain now known as the Hell Creek Formation in South Dakota, where it was discovered by geologist Walter W. Stein Bill in May 2014. The dinosaur was excavated a year later and later restored in Italy, the company said in a statement. The creature’s remains were preserved in mud, and the skeleton is more than 60 percent complete and the skull is 75 percent complete. But Big John bears the wounds of a hard life, with a laceration on his collar from an altercation with a smaller Triceratops that auctioneers said was due to territorial defense or a mate. With three horns, a parrot-like beak and a “crown” that could span nearly 3 feet (1 meter) used to protect its neck or attract a mate, the Triceratops skull is one of the largest and “most striking” of any land animal, according to the UK’s Natural History Museum. The herbivorous animals can reach up to 12,000 pounds (5,500 kilograms) and 30 feet (9 meters) long. At 26 feet (8 meters), Big John is the largest Triceratops specimen ever found, auctioneers said. The creatures roamed the Earth during the Late Cretaceous period, about 68 million to 66 million years ago, in what is now the United States. Big John is expected to fetch between 1.2 million and 1.5 million euros (1.9 million euros) at the October 21 auction at the Drouot auction house in Paris.