The dinosaur known as “STAN,”, approximately 67
million years old, was discovered in 1987 in South Dakota by
amateur paleontologist Stan Sacrison.
“He showed it to scientists at the time who unfortunately
misidentified it as a triceratops,” James Hyslop, Christie's
head of Science and Natural History, told Reuters.
Triceratops remains are relatively common in the paleontological
world, so the bones failed to garner much interest until
Sacrison took them to the Black Hills Institute in South Dakota
in 1992.
Researchers there “realized pretty quickly that they had
something special in their hands,” said Hyslop. They
recategorized STAN as a T. rex and mounted a new search to
uncover the rest of the bones. They recovered 188 out of an
estimated 300 total for any T. rex, Hyslop said.
Most T. rex skeletons are held by museums and private
institutions. The auction is an opportunity for a private
collector or institution to acquire the bones, Christie's said.
STAN is 40 feet long and 13 feet high, Christie’s said. He is
also notable for two fused vertebrae scientists have identified
in his neck, suggesting the dinosaur broke his neck and survived
during his lifetime. “The clue is in the name, the Tyrannosaurus
rex,” Hyslop said. “He is the tyrant lizard king."
Christie’s will display the dinosaur from Wednesday to
mid-October at its Manhattan, New York location, the company
said. It plans to book socially distant viewings for the public.
“We've got the skull displayed at ground level so that you can
get really up close and personal with him and just see the
serrations on his teeth,” Hyslop said. “His longest tooth is 11
inches long. It's just terrifying to behold."
Christie’s has estimated the value of the dinosaur at between $6
million and $8 million.
(Reporting by Roselle Chen, writing by Mimi Dwyer; editing by
Bill Tarrant and David Gregorio)
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