The skeleton of a dinosaur was auctioned at the Eiffel Tower on Monday. Paris -- The 150 million-year-old, largely-intact skeleton of a still-unknown species of dinosaur went to auction today in Paris and sold for more than two million dollars - and if paleontologists’ hunches prove true, the mystery winning bidder may get a chance to bestow a name on a previously undiscovered species. The remains of the prehistoric predator – which is 30 feet long and 9 feet high - were discovered at Morrison Formation site in Wyoming in 2013. “The skeleton is 70% complete,” paleontologist Eric Mickeler told ABC News while observing the skeleton. “This is remarkable to have such a large amount of original fossilized bones." Mickeler, the valuation expert for the French auction house Aguttes, said experts have never documented a species quite like this one. “Scientists first thought it was an allosaurus, but after an in-depth examination, the skeleton presented major anatomical differences from known allosaurs - notably more teeth and distinctive bones." Whatever it proves to be, Mickeler said the the dinosaur lived a long life. “Looking at them, we can tell this carnivorous dinosaur died at an old age.” Still, Mickeler said that additional research will be required to confirm that the painstakingly reproduced skeleton is truly a fresh discovery. The global paleontological organization the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) in Bethesda, Maryland, which represents more than 2,200 international paleontologists, wrote a letter to auctioneers at Aguttes, seeking the cancellation of today's auction and citing concerns about valuable fossils falling into private hands rather than public repositories. Mickeler said that few museums don’t have the money to purchase such skeleton. “I really hope the new owner will put it on display," he said. "Based on my experience, I believe it will end up in a museum. When private enterprises or sponsors buy a dinosaur’s skeleton, they usually donate it or make a permanent loan to public institutions”. The new owner, who refused to be named publicly, purchased the dinosaur’s skeleton for the U.S. equivalent of $2,360,389. Part of the sale profit will go to two charities fighting for the preservation of endangered species: Sea Shepherd and Ann Van Dyk Cheetah Centre.<doc-sep>The nearly complete skeleton of a meat-eating dinosaur fetched a whopping $2.36 million at the Aguttes auction house in Paris yesterday (June 4), much to the dismay of many paleontologists. The sale itself was legal — the dinosaur was dug up on private land in Wyoming in 2013, and the United States deems that fossils found on private land belong to the landowner, who can then legally take it out of the country. Despite its legality, auctioning off dinosaurs is part of a growing trend that threatens to take unstudied, prize specimens away from scientists who can't afford to buy them, said P. David Polly, the president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology and a professor of sedimentary geology at Indiana University. [In Photos: Montana's Dueling Dinosaur Fossils] "An auction is a device to get the highest possible price out of something," Polly told Live Science. "And, generally speaking, even big museums don't have budgets for purchasing specimens." (A big exception involves Sue, the 67-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton that the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago bought for $8.4 million in 1997.) Usually, museums and research institutions spend about $10,000 for big excavations, which covers the cost for scientists to travel to the field and dig up fossils, as well as properly excavate and prepare them, Polly said. That's more than 200 times less than what the auction buyer paid for the Wyoming dinosaur. And therein lies the problem: If dinosaurs found on U.S. private land are sold for top dollar at auctions, then landowners might start viewing it as a business venture. These landowners might "not want to work cooperatively with scientists, but rather work with whoever will pay them to work on the land who will give them a cut [of the profit]," he said. "If it's a trend that continues, then it's essentially really damaging to scientists because it makes it harder for scientists to have access to specimens," said Polly, who co-wrote a letter of protest on behalf of SVP's 2,200 members, asking Aguttes to cancel the auction. "It also means that we have to have more security on our own scientific collections because if people are thinking these things are worth millions of dollars, there's more incentive to break in and take them." Dubious practices In 2013, the roughly 150-million-year-old Wyoming specimen was found in the Morrison Formation, an area famous for holding the fossils of late Jurassic creatures, according to the auction catalog. The nearly 30-foot-long (9 meters) dinosaur is likely an Allosaurus, the most common theropod (a group of mostly meat-eating, bipedal dinosaurs that included T. rex and Velociraptor) found in the formation. [Photos: Dinosaur's Battle Wounds Preserved in Tyrannosaur Skull] Still, the exact species is not totally clear. "The specimen displays a series of characters that are unusual in Allosaurus, suggesting that it might belong to a new, still unnamed, taxon [group] of allosaurid theropod," Pascal Godefroit, a paleontologist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Science, wrote in the auction catalog. But Thomas Carr, a vertebrate paleontologist and an associate professor of biology at Carthage College in Wisconsin who wasn't involved in the auction, said he isn't buying that claim. "It's just hype — they're just trying to get a higher price for it," Carr told Live Science. "It looks no different from any Allosaurus that I've ever seen." However, if it is a new species, an auction catalog is no place to make that claim, Carr said. "Where scientific knowledge claims belong is in the scientific, peer-reviewed literature," Carr said. "This situation is just really bewildering. I fail to see how doing that is ethical." Live Science reached out to Godefroit, but he did not immediately respond to a request for comment. See more Ethical questions Paleontologists typically don't study specimens from private collections. If the specimen's owner puts the fossil on display, but then returns it to a private collection, it won't be available for later scientific study for that verification. And researchers often double-check the work of their peers to make sure it's right. This recently happened when researchers claimed to have found a fossil of the first four-legged snake on record. Soon after, another group of scientists who also examined the specimen argued that this analysis was incorrect, and that the creature was actually a dolichosaurid, an extinct four-legged marine lizard with an elongated, snake-like body. The creature's identity remains a mystery, however, because the specimen is privately owned, and has since been removed from public view. This means that researchers likely won't be able to study it anytime soon. The new owner of the Wyoming specimen — an unnamed French art collector — did, in fact, say that the specimen would be lent to a museum in the future, The Guardian reported. But again, paleontologists are skeptical. "Right now, they are claims from an unnamed person," said Lisa Buckley, the former curator and collections manager at the Peace Region Palaeontology Research Centre in British Columbia, Canada. "Actions speak louder than words, and it remains to be seen in what form that donation will occur, if it does." There are no public records of how many dinosaurs meet the auction block, but Polly estimates it's about three to five a year at this point. If the trend continues, science could be lost or misconstrued going forward, he said. For instance, the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act protects fossils found on U.S. federal lands, but it's possible that people might dig up bones on public land and then claim the specimens came from private property, so they could legally sell them, he said. That would be a shame, because a specimen's location helps scientists date it, as well as assess the ecosystem in which it lived. For example, researchers know that Allosaurus lived in ecosystems with other apex predators, meaning it had to compete for prey, Carr said. [Photos: Newfound Tyrannosaur Had Nearly 3-Inch-Long Teeth] Moreover, every fossil adds to science. Given that the Wyoming specimen is about 70 percent complete, it could greatly help scientists learn how these dinosaurs changed as they grew into adulthood, Carr said. "Selling fossils to private individuals just doesn't help science at all," Carr said. "I imagine that this [specimen] represents tens of thousands of data points lost to science. It's a true loss of information." This isn't Aguttes' first fossil auction. In 2016, the auction house sold another Allosaurus skeletonfor $1.32 million, and last year it sold a complete mammoth skeleton for more than $641,000, according to CNN. Original article on Live Science.<doc-sep>NEW A vastly improved search engine helps you find the latest on companies, business leaders, and news more easily.<doc-sep>
Written by Oscar Holland, CNN The near-complete skeleton of a 150-million-year-old dinosaur has gone under the hammer for more than $2.36 million (€2 million) in Paris. The auction was held on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. Discovered in Wyoming, US, and dug up between 2013 and 2015, the fossil measures 2.6 meters (8.5 feet) tall and is almost 9 meters (30 feet) long. Scientists are yet to confirm the exact species of the dinosaur, which has been identified only as a carnivorous theropod. Specialists assemble the 9 meter long, 2.5 meter high dinosaur skeleton at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Credit: Stephane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images According to the auction house Aguttes, two paleontologists closely examined the fossil ahead of yesterday's sale. They say that it most closely resembles an Allosaurus, a dinosaur that roamed the Earth between 155 and 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period. But a number of anatomical differences, including the structure of the fossil's pelvis, skull and teeth, mean that it could yet be classified as a completely new genus of dinosaur. The identities of the buyer and private seller also remain unconfirmed. The fossil is in reportedly good condition, with around 70% of the skeleton remaining intact. Aguttes said that part of the sale proceeds will be given to two wildlife charities. Questions remain With unanswered questions around the dinosaur's identity, a number of scientists have spoken out against the auction. Last month, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, which represents over 2,000 professionals and students, called for the sale to be canceled. The skeleton was exhibited by Aguttes auction house on the first floor of the Eiffel tower. Credit: Stephane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images In an open letter to Aguttes, the organization requested that the specimen be "held in public trust," thereby allowing experts to "reexamine, re-measure and reinterpret" the fossil. The letter also challenged claims that the new owner might be able to name the unidentified species. The auction brochure had suggested that the dinosaur "could be named after them or after one of their children, with the agreement of the scientist who formally describes the species."