 unveiled today a new addition to its dinosaur collection: an 8.2-meter-long Stegosaurus dubbed “Apex.”){kind=link}
The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) unveiled today a new addition to its dinosaur collection: an 8.2-meter-long Stegosaurus dubbed “Apex.” With nearly 80% of its skeleton intact, it’s one of the most complete specimens yet found of the iconic armor-plated, herbivorous dino, which lived throughout what is now North America and Europe about 150 million years ago, when both were part of the supercontinent Laurasia.
Apex is also the priciest dino fossil ever sold. The skeleton was unearthed 2 years ago by a commercial paleontologist in Colorado’s fossil-rich Morrison Formation, then put up for auction earlier this year. Billionaire Kenneth Griffin, founder and CEO of the hedge fund Citadel, ultimately purchased it for a record-breaking $44.6 million. Griffin loaned Apex to AMNH, where it will be on display starting this Sunday for the next 4 years.
Although there are more than 80 Stegosaurus specimens in scientific collections around the world, few are as complete as Apex (seen above), which has preserved about 254 bones—including many of the armored plates on its back—out of a total of 319 in a complete adult specimen. In a press release accompanying the announcement, researchers at AMNH stated they hope the new fossil will help answer questions about the iconic dinosaur’s biology.
The museum also noted that Griffin will also support a 3-year postdoctoral fellowship aimed at determining Apex’s species, which remains unidentified, and studying Stegosaurus’ growth, metabolic rate, and skeletal development. As part of this work, researchers at AMNH will take CT scans of the fossil to produce 3D digital models and bone samples to analyze Apex’s internal structures.