「ネッシー」？　首長竜の骨格標本がＮＹで競売に　サザビーズ

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】英北部スコットランドのネス湖に生息するとされる未確認生物「ネッシー」を思わせる首長竜の骨格標本が、米ニューヨークで今月２６日、競売に掛けられる。競売大手サザビーズが１１日、発表した。（写真は首長竜プレシオサウルスの骨格標本。米ニューヨークで開催されたサザビーズの内覧会で）
　サザビーズの担当者によると、化石はプレシオサウルスのもので、全長は約３．４メートル。英イングランドの採石場で１９９０年に発見された。全身の骨の約７５％がそろっており、保存状態は良好。
　小さな頭部に長い首、ひれが特徴の古代生物で、約１億９０００万年前、ジュラ紀前期に生息していた。
　落札価格は６０万～８０万ドル（約８４００万～１億１２００万円）と予想される。
　このほか、映画「ジュラシック・パーク」シリーズに登場する翼竜に似たプテラノドンの骨格標本も出品される。
　こちらは米カンザス州で見つかったもので、翼の端から端までの長さは約６メートル。４００万～６００万ドル（約５億５８００万～８億３７００万円）の値が付くとみられている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/07/12-17:11）

Two mounted dinosaur skeletons -- one a fierce flying reptile of the kind seen in the Jurassic Park movies and the other evocative of the Loch Ness monster -- will be auctioned off this month in New York, Sotheby's said Tuesday.
The latter, called Nessie after the legendary elusive beast plying the depths of a Scottish lake, is estimated to draw between $600,000 and $800,000, Sotheby's said.
A kind of dinosaur called a plesiosaur, it was last auctioned in Paris in 2010 and at the time had come from a private museum in Germany.
The remains, which are nearly 11 feet (3.4 meters) long, were found in a quarry in England in 1990. The skeleton is about 75 percent complete and in exceptional condition, said Cassandra Hotton, Sotheby's head of Science and Popular Culture.
With its small head, long neck and flippers, the plesiosaur lived in the Lower Jurassic period about 190 million years ago.
The history of the Plesiosaur is also intertwined with the elusive Loch Ness monster of Scottish folklore, as many have drawn morphological comparisons between the Plesiosaur and the infamous 'Nessie,' whose sightings stretch back to the sixth century, Sotheby's said in a news release.
This one will be auctioned on July 26 at a Sotheby's event focused on natural history.
Also on offer will be a flying reptile called a pteranodon, with a wing span of about 20 feet (six meters) and estimated at $4 million to $6 million.
Named Horus after an Egyptian god, this particular specimen was found in the US state of Kansas. At Sotheby's galleries it is displayed outstretched in a flying position.
Other than standard bone joining and stabilization, almost all of the original fossil bones remain essentially unrestored, meaning that artificial filler was not used to replace missing bone sections, the auction house said.
It noted that this kind of creature made frequent appearances in the Jurassic Park film franchise.
Fossils from prehistoric animals are now big draws at auctions.
The record in terms of money was a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton that sold for $31.8 million in 2020.