67 million-year-old dinosaur skeleton to be auctioned in Europe

Geneva: For the first time in Europe, a Tyrannosaurus-Rex skeleton is going to be auctioned in Switzerland next month. It is named Trinity and dates back to 67 million years ago.

The Koller auction house said that the fossil will be sold in Zurich on April 18. "Towering 3.9 metres (12.8 feet) in the air, Trinity has been valued at between six to eight million Swiss francs ($6.5-8.7 million)," said the catalogue. Natural history in charge at Koller, Christian Lik said that it was a "very low estimate", reported AFP.

Trinity is described as "one of the most spectacular T-Rex skeletons in existence, a well-preserved and brilliantly restored fossil." It is only the third time in the world such a sale is happening. It is the skeleton of an entire T-Rex dinosaur preserved in exceptional quality.

According to a study published in Nature, there are only 32 skeletons of adult T-Rexs found in the world. T-Rex is one of the largest terrestrial predators on the planet. However, the Trinity is made up of the bones of three different dinosaurs excavated between 2008 and 2013 from the Hell Creek and Lance Creek formations in Montana and Wyoming in the United States. Trinity's skull came from one specimen and it is "incredibly well-preserved".

The auction house said the skeletons came from a private individual. "The rare skeletons of adult T-Rex specimens which have been unearthed are almost all now in institutional collections. The Zurich auction is therefore an exceptional opportunity to acquire such a fossil of the highest quality."

Auctions of dinosaur skeletons and other rare fossils have gone up in recent years. Experts are concerned that the trade can harm scientific research.