NEW YORK (AP) – The most expensive dinosaur fossil ever discovered is on view in New York, American Museum of Natural History officials announced.
The giant stegosaurus fossil, dubbed “Apex”, is 11 feet tall and 27 feet nose to tail. The display will start in a giant atrium at the museum’s entrance before being moved to the museum’s existing fossil halls next year.
The museum also confirmed the identity of the philanthropist who purchased Apex.
Billionaire hedge fund manager and longtime museum donor Ken Griffin bought it at an auction in July for USD45 million, the most ever paid for dinosaur remains.
President of the American Museum of Natural History Sean Decatur said that Griffin approved a long-term loan of Apex, as well as allowing scientists to take samples from the fossil for analysis.
“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 specialised Stegosaurus research centred around this extraordinary and scientifically important specimen,” Decatur said in a statement.
Of the more than 80 stegosauri made available to scientific institutions, very few are substantially complete, the statement said. Apex is the most complete specimen ever found, Decatur said. With about 80 per cent of its 320 bones preserved, it is miraculous for creature that has been dead for 150 million years. The specimen is also prized by scientists because it is estimated to have died at a relatively old age, and it could reveal insights into stegosaurus metabolism and bone growth.
Scientists will make CT scans of the internal structures of the dinosaur’s skull and analyse a small sample extracted from one of its giant thigh bones, the statement said.
“As exciting as is it is to have this dinosaur on display, it is even more exciting to have the opportunity to study it and make important scientific data available for research,” said curator for the American Museum of Natural History’s fossil amphibians, reptiles, birds and plants Roger Benson.
The museum’s paleontologists have a long record of breaking ground in dinosaur research, including identifying the first dinosaur eggs and early evidence of dinosaur feathers, the statement said.
