Sotheby's has auctioned off the 150-million-year-old skeleton of Apex the Stegosaurus for a record $44.6 million.
The auction , which ended on Wednesday morning, was expected to bring between $4 million to $6 million.
The buyer's identity was not immediately disclosed.
The previous auction record for a dinosaur skeleton – $31.8 million – was set in 2020 for a Tyrannosaurus rex nicknamed Stan.
“This is an incredibly important discovery, and I don't know of another Stegosaurus that matches the size and quality of this one,” said Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby's senior vice president, and global head of science and popular culture.
Apex is about 3.5 metres tall, 8.2 metres long and 1.8 metres wide – almost twice the size of Sophie, the Stegosaurus in London's Natural History Museum.
“The quality of the fossil is excellent,” Ms Hatton said. “Even impressions of the skin have been preserved.”
The skeleton was discovered in 2022 near the town of Dinosaur in Moffat County, Colorado, according to Sotheby's. A palaeontologist made the discovery on their own land.
The Stegosaurus roamed the Earth between 145 million and 155 million years ago, during the Late Jurassic period.
Skeletons of the dinosaur have been found in the western US and in Portugal.
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Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
