Apex the $45M stegosaurus is on display in New York. Here’s what scientists hope to learn about it
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/12/2024 (665 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
NEW YORK (AP) — The most expensive dinosaur fossil ever discovered will be on view in New York starting this weekend, American Museum of Natural History officials announced Wednesday.
The giant stegosaurus fossil, dubbed “Apex,” is 11 feet (3.3 meters) tall and 27 feet (8.2 meters) nose to tail. The display will start in a giant atrium at the museum’s entrance before being moved to the museum’s existing fossil halls next year.
The museum also confirmed the identity of the philanthropist who purchased Apex. Billionaire hedge fund manager and longtime museum donor Ken Griffin bought it at an auction in July for $45 million, the most ever paid for dinosaur remains. Sean Decatur, president of the American Museum of Natural History, said that Griffin approved a long-term loan of Apex, as well as allowing scientists to take samples from the fossil for analysis.
“This partnership allows Apex to have pride of place at a museum world-renowned for its dinosaur collection and for its longstanding leadership in paleontology and, even more exciting, enables us to pursue specialized Stegosaurus research centered around this extraordinary and scientifically important specimen,” Decatur said in a statement Wednesday.
Of the more than 80 stegosauri made available to scientific institutions, very few are substantially complete, the statement said. Apex is the most complete specimen ever found, Decatur said. With about 80% of its 320 bones preserved, it is miraculous for creature that has been dead for 150 million years. The specimen is also prized by scientists because it is estimated to have died at a relatively old age, and it could reveal insights into stegosaurus metabolism and bone growth.
Scientists will make CT scans of the internal structures of the dinosaur’s skull and analyze a small sample extracted from one of its giant thigh bones, the statement said.
“As exciting as is it is to have this dinosaur on display, it is even more exciting to have the opportunity to study it and make important scientific data available for research,” said Roger Benson, who curates the American Museum of Natural History’s fossil amphibians, reptiles, birds and plants.
The museum’s paleontologists have a long record of breaking ground in dinosaur research, including identifying the first dinosaur eggs and early evidence of dinosaur feathers, the statement said.
Commercial paleontologist Jason Cooper discovered in Apex on his land near Dinosaur, Colorado, on the Utah border near Dinosaur National Monument.
Griffin’s successful $44.6 million bid for Apex over the summer set a record for dinosaur remains, beating out the $31.8 million paid for “Stan,” the remains of a Tyrannosaurus rex sold in 2020. Like Apex, the Stan fossils were purchased by a private individual with plans to make it available to the public. The T. rex has been slated to be on display in Abu Dhabi, in United Arab Emirates, at a museum that opens in late 2025.
