The only infant t.rex, for sale on EBay?!

[Lizerd]

So as I hope many of you have read, possibly the only T.rex infant is on sale for 2.95 million on eBay. This is possibly one of the most horrifying things I have seen. A fossil as unique, if not even more unique than Sue the T.rex is on sale and if something is not done, then it will end up in some private collectors personal collection. Multiple other news sources have commented on this. For obvious reasons I will not link the sale as after reading it, it really only makes the reader feel sick to the core.

Personal thoughts and what we can do:
Disclaimer: lots of this is opinion
To let this fossil go into private hands would be an atrocity. This is one of the rarest fossils possibly ever and many of us should do as much in our power to stop the skeleton from being sold to private collectors. Hopefully a museum will buy these fossils before they are sold. In terms of legitimacy the fossil seems very sketchy. The grammar of the sale is poor and the source of discovery is unknown. Likely the seller illegally dug the bones up on someone's property and smuggled them out.

In terms of we can do, alert as many people on this to raise awareness. With luck a museum will purchase it or some person may purchase it and donate it to a museum.

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

Finds like these should go to museums. I collect fossils myself but even my rare and unique pieces aren't particularly scientifically valuable. Something like this that can be learned from definitely should not be in private hands. It's a double-edged sword, since museums paying these sums of money would encourage further sales and yet if it isn't bought by or donated to a museum then it could be lost to science.

[Lizerd]

I read a really excellent quote on this: a person can own rocks but they cannot own science. This fossil is of massive scientific value, and belongs to the public. I definitely agree that fossil collecting is fine, as a few small scraps or the occasional tooth don't hold much value. However a skeleton like this should not be for sale. It's pretty horrible that museums essentially have to pay ransom money for these fossils, but we don't have much alternatives.

[stargatedalek]

It's almost certainly fake. And if it isn't completely fabricated than it's probably the bones of any small theropod being mislabeled as a Tyrannosaurus.

I'd sooner bet 2 million dollars on it being fake.

Even if it's real, it's not as huge of a loss to science as it may appear at first glance.

That complete looking skeleton is definitely not real, it's a reconstruction. The "real" bones are the scraps visible in the other photos. Notice that even just the lower jaw is largely reconstructed.

Their entire claim of it being the only one also hinges on Nanotyrannus being valid, which, again, I'd sooner bet 2 mill against.

And even if we assume that is correct, 15 feet long is not exactly a baby for any egg laying animal. So still hardly the huge deal it may seem to be.



TLDR; It's not real and/or not nearly as special as it seems, and people have tried to sell far more disgusting and immoral things than this on Ebay.

[Loon]

Rare fossils being sold to a private collector is only slightly better than them being bought by a creation museum.

[Neosodon]

Rare fossils being sold to a private collector is only slightly better than them being bought by a creation museum.

Does that even happen? Most of them can barley even afford to stay open and don't conduct any reasearch from what I'm aware.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

It's almost certainly fake. And if it isn't completely fabricated than it's probably the bones of any small theropod being mislabeled as a Tyrannosaurus.

I'd sooner bet 2 million dollars on it being fake.

Even if it's real, it's not as huge of a loss to science as it may appear at first glance.

That complete looking skeleton is definitely not real, it's a reconstruction. The "real" bones are the scraps visible in the other photos. Notice that even just the lower jaw is largely reconstructed.

Their entire claim of it being the only one also hinges on Nanotyrannus being valid, which, again, I'd sooner bet 2 mill against.

And even if we assume that is correct, 15 feet long is not exactly a baby for any egg laying animal. So still hardly the huge deal it may seem to be.



TLDR; It's not real and/or not nearly as special as it seems, and people have tried to sell far more disgusting and immoral things than this on Ebay.

Not that I disagree with most of what you said Dalek but a few facts I am aware of as the fossil was found by someone I am familiar with and was displayed near to my hometown.....the fossil is real as far as what there is, and was displayed at the museum as stated before he put it up for sale.

  The guy himself is ......I shall say odd to say the least , often creating what he considers works of religious art that incorporate fossils he has found and so forth. .....eccentric or ....off a bit perhaps. The one time I met him , he wandered into a show I was attending with a few of his "crew" ...and they were apparently more than a bit...under the influence. ...struck me as an opportunist looking for a place to strike and a bit...overbearing.