Most expensive dinosaur fossil ever may reveal Stegosaurus’ secrets

Most expensive dinosaur fossil ever discovered stegosaurus secret

Written by Zane Wolf Edited by Sarah Lewin Frazier

When I first visited the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), there were lots of media cameras, lots of press badges, and quite a bit of intrigue. We were all invited to witness the unveiling. something. The museum has revealed that visitors can expect to see spectacular specimens “comparable to the ranks of well-known favorites” such as the spectacular and much-loved Sue. tyrannosaurus rex Specimen at the Field Museum in Chicago.

Suffice it to say that AMNH has delivered. After a countdown by a group of school children gathered at the front of the crowd, the curtain was pulled to reveal Apex, one of the most complete and largest. stegosaurus No fossils have been discovered yet. The fossil was purchased last July for a record $44.6 million (the highest price ever sold at auction, according to the Associated Press), and is now on long-term loan to a museum.

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Apex (named for its size) was 11.5 feet tall and 27 feet long and went extinct about 150 million years ago (during the peak of humanity). stegosaurus In terms of species diversity and population density. A significant amount of the Apex skeleton (approximately 80%) was recovered and compared with other skeletons. stegosaurus Compared to specimens containing similar amounts of skeletal material, the fossilization process of this specimen preserved its three-dimensional characteristics very well. “What’s important to me is that those bones are taken from all the major areas of the skeleton, so we’re not missing any important parts of this animal,” said MacAuley, curator of paleontology. says Roger Benson, curator of amphibian fossils. AMNH exhibits reptiles, birds, and fossil plants. The completeness and scale of Apex could give scientists an important opportunity to answer some fundamental unanswered questions.

For example, researchers still don’t know what the giant, iconic backplate is. stegosaurus Paul Barrett, a paleontologist and dinosaur expert at the Natural History Museum in London, explains. Was it used for body temperature regulation or protection? And if it’s the latter, how effective was it in fending off attacks? With so many well-preserved skeletons, scientists should be able to find even more clues about its function.

Thanks to the integrity of Apex, we created a virtual model to study how this animal moved compared to smaller specimens and to show how the gait changed as the animal grew. You can use it. “Apex adds another very important point of comparison to everything else. stegosaurus It sticks with what we already know, which is especially important because it’s near the top of the size spectrum,” Barrett explains.

Apex’s large size suggests that this dinosaur specimen died when it was relatively mature, making it likely to be rare. “Dinosaurs lived a rock star lifestyle, living fast and dying young,” Barrett says, but the lack of fully adult specimens makes it difficult to know when these animals were born. There are huge gaps in our knowledge of how full maturity is reached.

Benson and Barrett describe two methods for determining the biological age of fossils. First, vertebrates are often born with more bones than they had when they died, as some eventually fuse together. The human skull is a prime example, consisting of five separate major bones that fuse together into a single structure after birth. In Apex, Benson explains, “All the vertebrae are fused, which is one of the telltale signs of aging.”

Second, like tree rings, bone growth patterns can indicate periods of fast and slow growth and overall age. By examining bone samples from small young specimens and large adult specimens such as Apex, it will be possible to determine when and how quickly to build bone samples. stegosaurus I grew up at different times in my life. This provides valuable information about overall metabolism and the duration of different life stages.