<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="1" how much does it cost to buy a Triceratops >? The biggest kind! </h1>
How much does a fossil of a Triceratops cost? And it's the biggest one!
Next month, an auction in Paris, France, will reveal the answer, but before that, the fossil of the Triceratops will be displayed in the windows on the streets of Paris for a while.
Photo note: Triceratops fossil on display on the streets of Paris, picture from China News Network
Triceratops is one of the most famous dinosaurs, known for its strong body size and huge head. There are three large horns on the head of the Triceratops, and its name comes from these three large horns. Triceratops lived in North America between 68 million and 66 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous and was the main prey of T. rex and the largest ceratopsus found so far. So the question is, how old can the Triceratops grow?
Figure Note: Triceratops restoration, picture from the network
Most books label the largest body size of Triceratops as 9 meters long and weigh more than 10 tons, in fact, according to the large number of Triceratops fossils found, paleontologists counted the average body length of adult Triceratops as between 6 and 7 meters and weighed 5 to 6 tons. Of course, there are some particularly large individuals, such as the individual numbered UCMP 128561, although its fossils are only the broken snout part, but according to the proportion of the bones of the Triceratops, its body length should be more than 8.5 meters, the weight of up to 11 tons, is the largest known Triceratops, the only drawback is that the fossils are too few.
Note: UCMP 128561 saved part of the picture feed network
Image note: UCMP 128561 compared to human body size, picture from the network
In 2014, paleontologists found a new fossil of Triceratops in the Hell Creek Formation formation in South Dakota, USA, and its fossils were not only complete, but also huge, and everyone named this Triceratops "John The Great". According to the calculation of broken fossils, "Big John" is more than 8 meters long and weighs up to 10 tons, although it is a little smaller than the UCMP 128561, but the fossil of "Big John" is quite complete, reaching more than 60%, so it is the largest of the complete Triceratops fossils. In other words, "Big John" is the Triceratops with enough evidence.
Although the fossils of "Big John" are intact, they are quite fragmented, with a total of more than 200 pieces, and people look dizzy in front of their eyes. In October 2020, the fossil of "Big John" was shipped to The Zodiac Studio in Italy, where the staff compared the complete Triceratops fossil with a little bit of restoration and splicing "Big John". According to the memories of the studio staff, at that time they hoisted the huge and heavy head of "Big John" with a bracket and then completed the entire skull with special materials, and the length of the skull reached 2.62 meters, as large as a miniature car.
Photo note: Partial fossil of "Big John" that has just been discovered, picture from the network
Picture note: The skull of "John the Great" that was hoisted and repaired, picture from the network
Illustration Note: "Big John" ribs and vertebrae, picture from the network
After thousands of hours of hard work by Zoic's studio, the fossils of "Big John" were finally restored and put on shelves, after which the fossils were transported to Paris and put on display. The appearance of "John the Great" in Paris attracted media coverage, not only because of the appearance of a real Triceratops in Paris, but also because the fossil will be auctioned on October 21, 2021. According to industry estimates, the final transaction price of "Big John" will be between 1.2 million and 1.5 million euros, and they refer to the Tyrannosaurus Rex "Stan", which sold for $31.8 million last year, and are very confident about the upcoming auction of "Big John".
Illustration: Assembling the display of "John the Big", picture from the network
Picture note: The famous T-Rex "Stan", picture from the network
How much does it cost to buy one of the biggest Triceratops? We'll know next month!
Image / Network (Intrusion and Deletion)
Text / Jiang's Little Thief Dragon (Jiang Hong)
Typography / Jiang's Little Thief Dragon