A rare find, exceptional in quality and about 68 million years old, North American dinosaur fossils are set to hit the Bonhams auction block in New York. Full story: A rare find, exceptional in quality and about 68 million years old, North American dinosaur fossils are set to hit the Bonhams auction block in New York. Among the skeletons for sale is a mounted Triceratop. The 26 foot long and 10 foot high dinosaur was discovered on a private ranch in Montana in 2012. [Thomas Lindgren, Bonhams Co-Director, Natural History]: "The triceratops is actually 70 percent original bone represented. It's got a six foot skull, which is a large skull, but we have triceratops that have skulls as much as two feet larger that have been found. This animal, because of the amount of original bone, is truly an amazing specimen." Also on display was a massive Tyrannosaurus rex (T-rex) skeleton, which at 12 feet high is tall enough to look through a second story window. It is 38 feet in length and is expected to sell for between $1.8 and $2.2 million. [Thomas Lindgren, Bonhams Co-Director, Natural History]: "The T-rex was found in the center of basically Garfield County, Montana in the summer of 2012. It represents 40 percent of an original skeleton, which understanding that the most complete skeleton of a T-rex ever found is only 73 percent. The third most complete 57 percent. So, this has bone representing a skeleton that is quite significant." But by far, the star of the auction is a set of dueling dinosaurs. [Thomas Lindgren, Bonhams Co-Director, Natural History]: "The dueling dinosaurs are the two most complete dinosaurs ever found in the Hell Creek Formation in North America, but probably any formation in North America. They're exceptionally complete. They are so important to science because of the fact they were found in a context that appears to be they killed each other in a death battle near the end of the Cretaceous." The dueling dinosaurs fossil, which was discovered in 2006, contains two of the most well-preserved dinosaur remains ever unearthed, and includes pieces of skin. [Thomas Lindgren, Bonhams Co-Director, Natural History]: "The excitement is that we may have the most complete Nanotyrannus ever and possible a new species of ceratopsian. Absolutely the most important dinosaurs that I've ever been involved with and could be the most important dinosaurs in the world ever discovered." According to Bonhams, the battle scene is also one of only two known occurrences where a meat-eating dinosaur (Nanotyrannus) and a plant-eating dinosaur (ceratopsian) were preserved together. The Montana Dueling Dinosaurs & Distinguished Fossils sale is scheduled for Tuesday in New York. The sale will feature 70 lots. For more news and videos visit ☛ http://ntdtv.tv Follow us on Twitter ☛ http://twitter.com/NTDTelevision Add us on Facebook ☛ http://on.fb.me/s5KV2C

• published: 17 Nov 2013
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