Mystery dinosaur skeleton to be auctioned in Paris.
If you have around 1.8 million euros in Bitcoin knocking around in a wallet somewhere, you could become the lucky owner of a mysterious set of of dinosaur bones that are about to go up for auction in France.
According to Reuters, the mysterious bones – of a beast that measured around nine metres in length – are “unusually complete”, at around 70% intact. It was formerly a member of the theropod (“beast-footed”) sub-species, a carnivorous group of dinos that first appeared in the Triassic period (around 230m years ago) and died out in the Cretaceous period (around 65m years ago) and which – at some point – branched off, genetically speaking, to become the birds we know today.
Keen fans of Jurassic Park will probably know that the Therapod group also includes Velociraptors and the Tyrannosaurus Rex. However, little is known about the specific creature these bones make up, other than there are noticeable differences in this skeleton – found in the US state of Wyoming a few years back – to those of previously identified Therapods.
The skeleton, which belongs to a British businessman, is currently on show in Lyon. It will soon be moved to a very high-profile display location on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, however, before it goes up for auction on June 4th. Bids will be taken in either Euros or Bitcoin – with interest expected from museums and academic institutions as well as private collectors.
