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Dinosaur Skeleton Breaks Auction Record with $44.6 Mn Sale in New York

Estimated to be 150 million years old, Apex is said to be "among the most complete skeletons ever found.” EPA
Estimated to be 150 million years old, Apex is said to be "among the most complete skeletons ever found.” EPA
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Dinosaur Skeleton Breaks Auction Record with $44.6 Mn Sale in New York

Estimated to be 150 million years old, Apex is said to be "among the most complete skeletons ever found.” EPA
Estimated to be 150 million years old, Apex is said to be "among the most complete skeletons ever found.” EPA

The largest stegosaurus skeleton ever found, nicknamed Apex, sold for a record breaking $44.6 million at auction in New York on Wednesday, Sotheby's said.

Estimated to be 150 million years old, Apex is said to be "among the most complete skeletons ever found," according to the auction house.

It measures 11 feet (3.3 meters) tall and 27 feet long and counts 254 fossil bone elements of an approximate total of 319, Agence France Presse reported.

The previous auction record of $31.8 million for a dinosaur skeleton was set in 2020 for a Tyrannosaurus Rex nicknamed "Stan."

Sotheby's had expected Apex to fetch between $4 million and $6 million, but the price quickly skyrocketed as telephone bidders deluged the sale, prompting gasps and clapping in the auction room.

After the record-breaking sale, the auctioneer asked her colleague Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby's global head of science, "do you need a cigarette?"

Apex was discovered in May 2022 on the private land of paleontologist Jason Cooper. The auction house says it has collaborated with Cooper to "document the entire process, from discovery and excavation to restoration, preparation and mounting," in order to guarantee the "highest standards and transparency."

In 2022, Christie's auction house had to withdraw a T-rex skeleton a few days before auction in Hong Kong, due to doubts about its authenticity.

Wednesday's auction follows an increasing trend for the sale of dinosaur remains.

Stegosaurus skeletons are already on display around the world, but according to Sotheby's, Apex is 30 percent larger than Sophie, the most complete stegosaurus on public display to date, which is housed in the Natural History Museum in London.

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Water Rescues Underway in Arkansas after New Wave of Storms Across US, Canada

As much as 11 inches (nearly 28 centimeters) of rain fell overnight into Wednesday on parts of Marion County, Arkansas, in the Ozark Mountains, the National Weather Service said. (The AP)
As much as 11 inches (nearly 28 centimeters) of rain fell overnight into Wednesday on parts of Marion County, Arkansas, in the Ozark Mountains, the National Weather Service said. (The AP)
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Water Rescues Underway in Arkansas after New Wave of Storms Across US, Canada

As much as 11 inches (nearly 28 centimeters) of rain fell overnight into Wednesday on parts of Marion County, Arkansas, in the Ozark Mountains, the National Weather Service said. (The AP)
As much as 11 inches (nearly 28 centimeters) of rain fell overnight into Wednesday on parts of Marion County, Arkansas, in the Ozark Mountains, the National Weather Service said. (The AP)

Water rescues were underway Wednesday in Arkansas after a new wave of severe storms that have pummeled a vast swath of the US and Canada, officials said. High winds, tornadoes and flooding have caused damage or deaths from the Plains to New England this week.

As much as 11 inches (nearly 28 centimeters) of rain fell overnight into Wednesday on parts of Marion County, Arkansas, in the Ozark Mountains, the National Weather Service said.

“Numerous bridges across the area are washed out with water rescues that are taking place,” the weather service said. “Evacuations are taking place as significant rising water is inside of homes and businesses.”

Storms toppled trees and damaged homes Tuesday around Keene, New Hampshire. Storms also caused damage in upstate New York. Around Toronto, flooding temporarily closed several major roads, the Canadian Press reported Wednesday, The AP reported.
Severe weather has struck the Chicago area especially hard. The weather service said it confirmed 17 tornadoes struck northern Illinois and northwestern Indiana this week, including 11 during a single stretch of extraordinary storms Monday night.

Utilities continued to restore power in the Midwest, though 115,000 homes and businesses still lacked electricity Wednesday in Illinois and Indiana, according to PowerOutage.us.

An older couple died when their car became submerged in a flash flood near Elsah, Illinois, north of St. Louis. Mill Creek rose rapidly at midday Tuesday after several inches of rain and submerged their SUV, the Jersey County Sheriff's Office said in a news release. An 88-year-old woman was found dead in the vehicle. Hours later, the body of an 88-year-old man was found near the creek bank.

The sheriff’s office credited an emergency dispatcher with helping to save a 70-year-old man who was in another vehicle. The dispatcher directed the man to climb through his sunroof. The water was above the roof by the time rescuers arrived.

In Rockford, Illinois, a 76-year-old man who was a passenger in a pickup truck drowned when the vehicle became trapped in a creek during a storm Sunday, authorities said. The driver survived.

It was reported earlier that a 44-year-old woman died in Cedar Lake, Indiana, in the southern fringes of the Chicago area, after a tree fell on her house late Monday, the Lake County coroner’s office said.