In that era about 66 million years ago, Triceratops had a huge collar skull and three aggressive horns, making it one of the most dangerous and forbidding dinosaurs.
Now, the remains of one of the giants from the Cretaceous period, although terrifying in appearance, it is a herbivore, and it is on display in Paris before being auctioned next month.
The name of the dinosaur is Big John. It has a skull and bone neck that is 2.62 meters long, 2 meters wide, and weighs more than 700 kilograms, two large horns of more than 1 meter, and 200 other carefully pieced together various bones.
He lived in Laramidia, an island continent extending from what is now Alaska to Mexico, and died in an ancient floodplain now known as the Hell Creek geological formation in South Dakota. Since the plain is composed of sediments with no biological activity, most of the Big John has been fossilized and preserved.
These bones were discovered in May 2014, and the excavation was completed more than a year later. They were reassembled in the Zoic workshop in Italy and are experts in repairing prehistoric bones.
The cracks in the collar indicate that the dinosaur was injured in a battle with another triceratops, possibly to defend the territory or mate.
“Big John, with more than 60% completeness and 75% complete skull, is both a miracle of nature and a work of art,” said Giquelo, a spokesperson for the auction house.
Iacopo Briano, a paleontologist who oversaw John’s reconstruction, said the skeleton is 5-10% larger than any other triceratops discovered so far.
“This is a masterpiece,” Briano said Inter Milan radio. “There are many triceratops skulls in the world, but few are almost complete.”
According to Alexandre Giquello of the auction house, only about a dozen buyers in the world would be interested in such a huge skeleton.
“Every auction, we see new profiles arrive. We have seen owners in unusual places want to invest to attract customers. There are also people who are passionate about science and paleontology. They are usually very young and come from New technology; they are actually the Jurassic Park generation: they have seen movies and are immersed in this Hollywood myth,” Giquello said.
Experts say that the enthusiasm for dinosaur bones remains high and pushes up prices, which often prevents museums and research centers from raising funds.
Last October, a rare Allosaurus skeleton (one of the oldest dinosaurs, considered the “grandfather” of the terrible Tyrannosaurus Rex) was sold to an anonymous bidder in Paris for a little over 3 million euros Or twice the valuation.
The 8-meter-long Big John is expected to sell for up to 1.5 million euros when it is auctioned at Paris Drouot as part of the annual Naturalia auction on October 21st. From September 16th to October 15th, he can be seen at 13 rue des Archives in the Marais district of the city.
