What is the controversy around the baby T. Rex listed on eBay?



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The partial skeleton of a baby Tyrannosaurus rex is on sale on eBay for nearly $ 3 million. And although everyone guesses who (if any) will buy the "king of dinosaurs", the seller is certain of one thing: the specimen will inevitably end up in a museum, he said.

"I guarantee you this will happen" in a museum, Alan Detrich, a professional Kansas sculptor and fossil hunter who is auctioning T. rex, said Live Science. According to Detrich, if a billionaire buys the specimen, he will likely offer – for tax purposes – a dinosaur to a museum someday.

In this case, "everyone is happy because the[[[[T. rex]is in a museum, and the billionaire was fondled in the back and left at sunset on the back of a dinosaur, "Detrich said. [In Images: A New Look at T. Rex and Its Relatives]

Detrich listed the baby T. rex on eBay on February 26, and the paleontological community has been in turmoil ever since. Legality has nothing to do with anger. Detrich's brother, Bob, discovered the fossilized bones of the beast near Jordan, a town in eastern Montana, in 2013. Detrich rented the land, privately owned, meaning that everything on the land belonged to Detrich.

Palaeontologists are rather upset because, if an individual buys the baby king dinosaurs, he is not obliged to share with scientists who want to study the juveniles. T. rex specimens. Moreover, even if the remains of the predator have been loaned to an institution or made available for study, most paleontologists do not like to study fossils unless they are donated, which means that the specimen would be available for study in perpetuity, and not only when the owner wants to make it accessible.

This is exactly what happened in 2016, when a private 120-million-year-old Brazilian specimen was controversial: a group of scientists called it the first four-legged snake ever recorded, and another group announced that it was not a snake at all, but probably a dolichosaurid, an extinct marine lizard resembling a snake. Everyone guesses what is the creature because the owner of the specimen has refused to let anyone study the fossil.

After digging up the bones, Detrich knew immediately that they belonged to a theropod (a group of bipeds, mostly meat-eating dinosaurs), but he did not know it was a T. rex until he brings it to Peter Larson, paleontologist and president of the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, in South Dakota.

Delighted, Detrich brought the fossils back to Kansas and cleaned them up. Then, in the honor of his late mentor, Larry Martin, Vertebrate Paleontologist and Curator of the Natural History Museum of the University of Kansas, he lent it to the museum.

"In Larry's honor, I thought it would be a good thing to lend this thing to the museum," Detrich said. "They could study it, they could show this specimen to thousands of people and they did it." The paleontologists contacted by Detrich examined the bones and estimated that the dinosaur, originally called "Baby Bob", then "Son of Samson", was about 4 years old when he died in the late Cretaceous, about 68 years ago. millions of years. [Gory Guts: Photos of a T. Rex Autopsy]

But after Son of Samson was exposed for two years, Detrich felt like "I made my fair share of donations" and published it on eBay for $ 2.95 million. . At first, he had not informed the museum of his plans, but when museum officials learned about them, they asked him to remove his name from the eBay listing, so that he would not have to go out of his way. they are not associated with the auction of dinosaur fossils.

In a reportLeonard Krishtalka, director of the museum, said: "The KU Natural History Museum does not sell or prohibit the sale of specimens to individuals, so the specimen loaned to us was removed from the show and returned to the owner.We asked the owner to remove any association with us from his ad. "

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology has also criticized the sale: "Vertebrate fossils are rare and often unique," the company said in a statement. "Scientific practice demands that conclusions drawn from fossils be verifiable: scientists must be able to re-examine, re-evaluate and reinterpret them (such a re-examination may take place decades or even centuries after the fact)."

The study of specimens belonging to private individuals is so discouraged that Robert Boessenecker, postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Environmental Geology and Geosciences at the College of Charleston, South Carolina, does not participate in the study. T. rex specimen, stated that he would not study any, even if the owner offered to lend it to him or lend it to a museum.

In fact, it is common for people to try to deposit specimens belonging to private individuals so that Boessenecker can identify, illuminate or even temporarily expose them.

"This has already happened, and I thanked them for their generosity, but I explained that, as museums serve as a research center, any fossil that enters the museum for a long time should belong to the museum", said Boessenecker. . "If we want to expose it, it must act from a fossil that has been donated or otherwise permanently acquired [added] in our collection. "

He added that most museums do not have the budget to buy expensive specimens. (An exception is Sue, the most complete T. rex which was sold at the Natural History Museum of Chicago for $ 8.4 million in 1997.) Instead, most research institutes choose to spend less money by sending their own researchers on the ground looking for fossils, or relying on the generosity of donors, said Boessenecker. [Photos: Velociraptor Cousin Had Short Arms and Feathery Plumage]

Boessenecker added that many palaeontologists have good relationships with fossil collectors, who often allow researchers to discover fossil hotspots and interesting discoveries. But if they want to lend a specimen, it's just not worth it, said Boessenecker, in part because the museum is responsible for the housing and safety of the fossils in his possession. (He detailed other challenges in this Twitter feed.)

In addition, Detrich's eBay listing suggests that the minor T. rex could solve the Nanotyrannus mystery once and for all. In short, some experts think that Nanotyrannus is a distinct species, but most paleontologists think that it's just a baby T. rex. However, while the teeth of such a specimen would clear up the mystery in one way or another, Boessenecker noted that the jaw of Son of Sampson was extremely fragmented and that it was perhaps missing a part – which would probably not solve the case.

In the meantime, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology has discouraged the institutions to highlight the objects lent.

"We urge dealers, exhibits and scientists to stay away from specimens that are not yet in public trust," the company said in its statement. To give an example, "The Museum für Naturkunde [Natural History Museum] In Berlin, he is currently exposing and studying a privately owned tyrannosaur skull, a specimen that might as well be removed from the public's trust as Detrich's youth, "the company said.

Although there is no auction on the T. rex yet, as Detrich told Live Science, "All you need is one."

Originally published on Science live.

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