Tiger skeleton which was 40-million-year-old sold at an auction in the US for $70,000

A 40-million-year-old skull of a sabre-toothed tiger was discovered at a ranch in the United States and it has now been sold for $70,000. According to the reports by phys.org, the original bones are of Hoplophoneus. These are not typically cats but are an extinct genus of the Nimravidae family and once stalked the plains of North America.

Skull sold for $40,000

The skeleton which is about 120-centimetre-long was bought by a private collector in just one minute at an auction in Geneva. Along with this, a Tyrannosaurus Rex tooth was also sold at a price of $6,000. Reports by phys.org suggest that another 85-cm long fin from a mosasaur fetched $8,000.

Mosasaur are usually marine reptiles that were at the top of the submarine food chain during that period. Few things remained unsold at the auction like the 75-million-year-old ammolite, which is an opal-like organic gemstone in shades of red and orange and measures 40 cm long by 36 cm. 

(Image Credits: Phys.org)

Read: Rare Allosaurus Dinosaur Skeleton Auctioned For €3 Million In Paris; Here's How Old It Is

Another auction 

In a separate incident, a  skeleton of the exceptional Allosaurus was sold at an auction in Paris on October 13 at a price of 3 million Euros. Considered as one of the largest specimens of this species, the 10 meter long piece was auctioned at ‘Binoche et Giquello’ auction house. Belonging to the Upper Jurassic period, the skeleton was dug up in the US state of Wyoming. According to the reports by AP, auctioneer Alexandre Giquello described it as "One immediately thinks of Jurassic Park".  

Read: Rare Allosaurus Dinosaur Skeleton Up For Auction

As per the official website of Binoche et Giquello, adult Allosaurus were about 8.5 meters long. The largest allosaurus was kept in the American Museum of Natural History in New York and was considered to be 9.7 meters long. Therefore this specimen is one of the largest known allosaurus till date.

The site says, “Superb specimen of Allosaurus sp. of exceptional size, showing obvious signs of trauma on three ribs probably due to clashes with conspecifics or prey”. During the display, the missing bones and segments were replaced by reproductions modelled by a team of professional paleontologists.

Read: New York: One Of The Largest Known T-rex Skeleton Set To Be Auctioned Next Month

Also Read: Spinosaurus' Fossilized Teeth Reveal 'Jurassic Park Antagonist' Was A 'river Monster'

(Image Credits: Phys.org)