![]() "If you go in, dig a hole, grab a dinosaur and leave, then there is little of scientific value because we don't know the context around it." The Smithsonian finally gets its T-rexĪfter relying on a replica for decades, the Smithsonian will this weekend unveil its long-awaited star attraction - a real Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. It's part of our history," said Matthew Carrano, the curator of Dinosauria at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. There are reports of excavation teams returning to their dig sites on public land to find fossils have been stolen. The demand for dinosaur bones also has a dark side. " best placed in museums or university collections, so that scientists have access to read those unique manuscripts that fossils are." It's accurate to think of them like books," palaeontologist Thomas Carr said. "The value of dinosaurs and other fossils is that they are information. Some private collectors argue that the market for dinosaur bones has helped reinvigorate interest in fossils and palaeontology, leading to more discoveries. In 2013, actors Nicholas Cage and Leonardo DiCaprio reportedly got into a bidding war over the 67-million-year-old skull of a Tyrannosaurus bataar.Ĭage prevailed but was later forced to hand the skull over to US authorities when it emerged it had been smuggled out of Mongolia. Dinosaurs are now money."įossils, including a baby T-rex, have been put on eBay, and Australian actor Russell Crowe is just one of several high-profile figures to have privately owned a dinosaur skull. That's made it much more difficult for professionals to access private lands. "If you find bones on your property, they're yours. In the other big dinosaur-producing nations, the country owns the dinosaurs," Mr Johnson explained. "It is legal to sell dinosaurs in the United States. Many collectors started searching, hoping to make a one-in-a-million find. The auction made it clear to the nation that dinosaurs were worth a lot of money. "We weren't the only museum that went with millions and thought it was getting her."īidding for Sue the T-rex started at $700,000 - the hammer dropped at $10.8 million and a commission was added on top.Ĭhicago's Field Museum was the winner and has housed Sue since, but many palaeontologists believe that science has lost out. "The discovery of Sue happened before the movie Jurassic Park, and the sale happened afterwards," Mr Johnson said, reflecting on the dinosaur's 1997 auction in New York that exceeded all expectations. They partly blame New Zealand actor Sam Neill, whose Hollywood blockbuster Jurassic Park turned the T-rex into a cultural icon. Sue, a beautifully preserved large Tyrannosaurus with teeth the size of bananas, is still known among museum staff as the one that got away. However, buying one of the 30 or so substantially complete skeletons did not work out either. "That's not hugely surprising because they are very rare," Mr Johnson said. They uncovered pieces and parts of the famed tyrant lizard king, but alas, no complete fossil suitable for display. The Smithsonian spent a substantial amount of time trawling through public land in states like Montana for T-rex bones. ![]() The United States' finders-keepers rule means that if you discover the ancient bones of a dinosaur on your property, the skeleton belongs to you. ![]() "There are traditionally two ways to get a T-rex," said Kirk Johnson, the museum's director. Until now, a Tyrannosaurus rex had escaped the grasp of Washington DC's Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
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