by Playfuls Staff |
30th November 2006
You can sell anything these days. So don’t be surprised to find out that an auction house in LA is offering a 65-million years old raptor nest for sale.[more]
The well-preserved dinosaur nest is exposing some tiny, fossilized skeletons belonging to an ancient species of predators called raptors. Raptors were mainly small and fast carnivores that flourished in the Cretaceous Period. In popular usage they are often called "raptors" after the Velociraptor (which was made famous by the film Jurassic Park) and their similarities to modern carnivorous birds of prey, which are also commonly called raptors.
For this particular fossilized nest of raptors, the auction house hopes to raise between $180,000 and $200,000.
"It is probably one of the finest dinosaur egg nests in the world. For the tiny skeletons still to be inside the eggs, folded up beautifully like this, means that they had to be almost ready to hatch," said Thomas Lindgren, consulting director of Natural History for auctioneers Bonhams and Butterfields.
The nest is made up of 22 eggs, all partially covered in sand, with 10 of them containing almost completely developed embryos. Paleoarcheologists have found the nest in China, and since its discovery it has been circulating in the hands of many private collectors in Asia, until it has been eventually bought by a US resident.
During the 20 years of pilgrimage, tens of thousands of dollars have been spent on research concerning the exact species to which the tiny dinosaurs belonged to (there are at least 6 species of raptors- also classified as Dromaeosauridae). The results of the research will be revealed in an academic paper now being prepared for publication next year.
The auction also includes other prehistoric skeletons and dinosaur bones, teeth and partial nests. Selling dinosaur-related items seems to become a global trend, in a period where discoveries in the domain are pretty scarce (and thus spectacular) and many Asian countries are pushing ahead initiatives to build museums dedicated to dinosaurs. The Asian continent (and especially China) is an El Dorado when it comes to searching for remains of these prehistoric cold-blooded animals.
“Dinosaurs are hotter than ever. It is a very collectible market, especially for higher-quality specimens,” Lindgren said.
Lindgren said the nest may remain in private hands rather than going to a museum, at least initially.
“Unfortunately, most museums are slow at being able to put together funding at short notice. But that doesn’t mean it won’t end up going to an institution. Most of the museums in the United States have been founded by private collections that have been donated by individuals,” he said.
Image Courtesy of Bonhams & Butterfields
