The largest stegosaurus skeleton ever found, which stretches 23 feet long after a fossil hunter came across it during a birthday walk in a town called Dinosaur, will sell for up to $6 million

The largest stegosaurus skeleton ever found, measuring a whopping 27 feet long, will sell for up to $6 million after a fossil hunter came across it during a birthday walk in a town called Dinosaur.

Jason Cooper discovered part of the bone formation protruding from a rock wall on his property in Dinosaur, Colorado, on his 45th birthday in May 2022.

He started by digging out the site and cleaning the bones with the help of some friends.

‘We looked around. My friend found some vertebrae. I said, ‘Oh my god, this is going to be a really great birthday!'” he said BBC news.

The fossil hunters recorded as much data as possible about where the fossils were found and brought them back to Cooper’s dinosaur shop where they began work on putting together the skeleton – which he named Apex.

Cooper knew immediately that Apex was an impressive find, with the dinosaur remains measuring an incredible 3.5 meters high and some 27 meters long and only 70 percent complete.

But the lucky fossil enthusiast was even more stunned to learn that Sotheby’s believes the find, which has been underground for 150 million years, could fetch up to $6 million at auction.

Cooper’s stegosaurus is still “virtually complete,” but the bones are well preserved, with the impressive 247 pieces mounted on a steel fixture, Sotheby’s said in a press statement.

Apex is about to become the first stegosaurus to go under the hammer at auction.

According to Cassandra Hatton, the auction house’s global head of science and popular culture, the skeleton is “one of the best fossils of its kind ever unearthed.”

She also said: ‘No one has ever found 100% of a dinosaur.

“A stegosaurus as good as this is hard to find, I think it’s going to be incredibly important.”

Apex will be auctioned in July for about $4 million to $6 million at Sotheby’s annual “Geek Week” sale in Manhattan, with the company describing the piece as one of the “most valuable dinosaur fossils ever offered.”

The highest bidder will receive a copy of the dinosaur scan data, plus a full license to use all 3D data as he or she wishes.

This, according to Sotheby’s, will “enable primary information about the dinosaur to remain with the specimen and promote collaboration in future research and education.”

Bidding is expected to come quickly as dinosaur fossils have become a desirable addition to the properties of tech moguls and Hollywood stars.

This is sad news for paleontologists who argue that allowing the fossils to end up in private hands interrupts scientific research and keeps them hidden from the public.

Steve Brusatte, professor of paleontology at the University of Edinburgh, explained CNN that Apex belongs in a museum.

“It is a great shame when a fossil like this, which could arouse and arouse the curiosity of so many people, just disappears in the mansion of an oligarch,” he told the news channel.

In 2019, it was reported that celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe and Nicolas Cage were among the famous people who have purchased prehistoric remains.

Nicolas Cage reportedly bought a tyrannosaurus skull for more than $236,000 in 2007 after a bidding war with Leonardo DiCaprio, although he returned it after it was revealed it had been stolen.

Cooper’s stegosaurus was discovered in Colorado’s Morrison Formation, an extensive stretch of sedimentary rock dating to the Jurassic period.

The area is known as a rich source of dinosaur fossils, the paper said National Park Service.

The Morrison Formation is centered in Wyoming and Colorado, with outcrops in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Idaho.

It took more than a year for Apex to be fully excavated and it was found to show signs of arthritis – which experts say indicates it was already living to an old age, but also showed no signs of combat or predation-related injuries.

Visitors to Sotheby’s New York galleries can see Apex as part of a free exhibition of some of the items for sale during Geek Week before they are handed over to their buyers.

Sotheby’s “legacy of groundbreaking natural history auctions” includes the 2022 sale of a Gorgosaurus skeleton, which sold for just over a whopping $6 million.

It also sold the first standalone T-Rex skull with ‘Maximus’ in December of the same year.

Stan, the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton in the world, set a new world record in 2020 when it sold for $3.18 million at Christie’s.

Stan was discovered in South Dakota in 1987 and was named after the amateur paleontologist who came across the remains, Stan Sacrison.

The remains were initially thought to be those of a triceratops, but further analysis in 1992 revealed its true identity as a T-Rex.

The skeleton contains 188 bones, making it 70 percent complete. However, the skull is the most complete and preserved yet found.

The skeleton disappeared from the public eye when an anonymous bidder paid the record price.

At the time, paleontologists feared the fossil had been lost to science, but in March Abu Dhabi’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism unveiled plans for Stan to become the latest attraction in a new natural history museum, expected to open in Abu Dhabi in 2025 are opened.

In Britain, fossil hunters are generally allowed to keep small finds, including shells and corals, but must report larger and historically important finds.

However, in the US, no such restrictions exist, meaning that anyone who digs up a dinosaur on their own property has full ownership of it and can do whatever they want with it.