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The world's most expensive dinosaur has arrived in New York City
By
Rosemary Misdary
Published Dec 5, 2024
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Alvaro Keding/AMNH
By
Rosemary Misdary
Published Dec 5, 2024
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The world’s most expensive dinosaur is now on display at the American Museum of Natural History.
A 150-million-year-old stegosaurus named Apex was unveiled Thursday as the newest addition to the museum’s dinosaur collection. The dinosaur's skeleton is on loan from billionaire hedge funder Ken Griffin, who bought it at a Sotheby’s auction in July for $44.6 million.
The sale was a Sotheby’s record, which had projected bids topping out around $6 million. The previous record holder was a T. rex that sold for $32 million in 2020.
“Stegosaurus is also exciting because, let's face it, it's an iconic dinosaur and it's comfortably in the top five dinosaurs of all time,” said Roger Benson, curator of dinosaur paleontology. “It may not be everyone's top favorite dinosaur, there are other options, but I think it's up there.”
A commercial paleontologist found the fossil of the late Jurassic herbivore in Colorado in 2022. The creature was in remarkably good condition. The skeleton comprises 254 pieces and is nearly 80% complete. And at 27 feet long and 11.5 feet high, Apex is 30% bigger than any previous find.
“Apex holds the key to piecing together pieces of information we've had from other individuals of stegosaurus,” Benson said. “It holds the key to understanding things like the structure of the skeleton of a stegosaurus and how that changed through the growth of the animal.”
Apex smiles for the camera.
Alvaro Keding/AMNH
Apex is on display in the Gilder Center’s atrium until the fall. Then it will move to the fourth floor joining another stegosaurus made up of multiple specimens.
Scientists plan to study the skeletal structure and create high-resolution 3-D models of the bones, inside and out. Museum scientists will also extract samples from inside the thigh bone.
“That's important to us because as the bone grows, it preserves a record of growth similar to tree rings,” Benson said.
According to initial examination, the dinosaur lived to a ripe old age and died of natural causes.
“It's a bit like trying to solve a crime that occurred 150 million years ago,” Benson said. “What we can say about this specimen? … There's no evidence of predator marks or other things that might have directly killed the animal.”
The heavy, four-legged stegosaurus is characterized by its small brain (about the size of a lime), diamond-shaped plates down its round back and spiked tail. The creature has only been found in the western United States and Portugal.
“We don't know everything about an animal from one fossil, but having this fossil contributes significantly to our understanding of stegosaurus because of its uniqueness,” Benson said. “The study of fossils has and will continue to tell us important things about Earth's biodiversity, where that came from, and the evolutionary history of animals on Earth, not just dinosaurs, but all organisms, which is central to our understanding of our place on Earth and in the universe.”
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Rosemary Misdary
Rosemary is health & science reporter. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 646-544-9524.
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