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Allosaurus Dinosaur: Rare Skeleton Up For Auction


The Allosaurus skeleton, first of its kind to be auctioned in the United Kingdom, could rake in up to £500,000 ($770,000).

The almost complete skeleton of the dinosaur was found in Wyoming and will be auctioned at the Summers Place Auctions in Billingshurst.

The Allosaurus' skeleton was found in 2009 by the sons of Raimund Alberdoerfer, a known paleontologist.

"Some of the bones are gigantic, some are tiny, but all must be approached with the same degree of caution to ensure that nothing of importance is overlooked," said Errol Fuller, the Evolution curator, the Mirror UK reported.

"Once a bone, or series of bones, is located, the exact position is carefully mapped so that vital evidence is not lost when the specimens are finally removed from the ground."

If the dinosaur reached its maturity, it could possibly be as tall as 28 feet, which makes the Tyrannosaurus Rex, a close relative, the only one that could exceed its size. They were not able to exist during the same lifetime since the T-Rex only evolved after 80 million years.

The auction is part of the auction house's "Evolution Sale" and is expected to harness more attention from "a lot of European and Asian" clients.

"It's half the size of an adult, so it's more manageable and would fit in a lot of homes, as well as private institutions," van der Werff said, according to USA Today. "We could see it going to either a museum or a collector."

Summer Place Auctions sold a Diplodocus longus skeleton for £400,000 ($610,000) to the National History Museum of Denmark back in November 2013.

Tags
United kingdom, Jurassic
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