Ｔ・レックスの化石、３３．６億円で落札　過去最高

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】世界で最も完全な状態で残っている化石の一つ、大型肉食恐竜ティラノサウルス・レックス（T・レックス）の「スタン」が6日、米ニューヨークのクリスティーズで競売に掛けられ、恐竜の化石としては最高額となる3180万ドル（約33億6000万円）で落札された。（写真はティラノサウルス・レックス（T・レックス）の化石標本「スタン」）
　Ｔ・レックスの人気は依然として高く、クリスティーズの予想した落札価格６００万～８００万ドル（約６億３０００万～８億４０００万円）を大きく上回った。
　これまでの落札最高額は、米シカゴのフィールド自然史博物館の「スー」の名で知られるＴ・レックスの化石で、１９９７年１０月に英競売大手サザビーズで８４０万ドル（約８億９０００万円）を記録した。
　Ｔ・レックスの化石は１９０２年に初めて発見されて以降、約５０体しか見つかっていない。
　今回競売に掛けられたスタンは、体高約４メートル、体長１２メートル、生きていた時の体重は約８トンと推定される。約６７００万年前に２０歳前後で死んだという。また頭蓋骨と首の骨にあるかまれた痕は、Ｔ・レックス同士で戦った証拠だと専門家らは考えている。
　スタンは米サウスダコタ州で１９８７年に発掘され、発見者である在野の古生物研究者スタン・サクリソン氏にちなんで愛称が付けられた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/10/08-10:07）

One of the most complete specimens of a T-Rex fossil in the world was sold for a record $31.8 million Tuesday by Christie's in New York, nearly quadrupling the previous highest price for a dinosaur at auction.
The apex predator made mincemeat of Christie's opening price of between six and eight million dollars, showing off the lasting power of the T-Rex.
It then shredded the previous record set by a specimen called Sue that was sold for $8.4 million in October 1997 by Sotheby's to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
Only around 50 Tyrannosaurus fossils have been discovered since the first was unearthed in 1902.
Bids hit the $9 million mark in less than two minutes after the start of the auction, but after 14 minutes there were just three bidders left in the race, until the hammer came down on an offer of $27.5 million, to which were added costs and commissions.
The sale was organized in New York, where the expert assessor was located, but with lines open to Hong Kong and London, where Christie's specialists were taking calls from collectors.
The fossil, nicknamed Stan, stands 13 feet (four meters) high and 40 feet long, with puncture marks in the skull and neck that experts believe show evidence of fights with fellow T-Rexes. He would have weighed in at around eight tons when alive, some 67 million years ago.
The fossil was discovered in South Dakota in 1987 and named after the amateur paleontologist who came across the remains, Stan Sacrison.
Paleontologists from the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research in South Dakota spent more than 30,000 hours excavating and then assembling the 188 bones of the skeleton.
Casts were then taken for dozens of museums around the world that wanted a copy of this exceptional specimen of Tyrannosaur, which experts believe was around 20 years old when it died.
Ironically, the terms of the sale prevent the buyer from producing 3D models of the dinosaur.
By law, such specimens can only be sold if the fossil was discovered on private land, which in this case it was.