‘This is probably one of the best pieces of this species that was discovered on this site,’ the seller, Yann Cuenin, told Reuters. ‘The preservation is particularly good, the fossilization quality is very neat, the mineralization is perfect.’
Ninety percent of its skeleton was found on the site, with the missing bones replaced using a 3D printer.
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Nearly 90 percent of the skeleton was found, with the missing bones replaced using a 3D printer
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A South Dakota rancher discovered the four-foot Hoplophoneus last summer. He was walking on his property when he saw bones sticking out of the ground
It’s expected to fetch between $66,560 and $88,750 when it goes under the gavel in Geneva on December 8.
But it’s just one of dozens of paleontological prizes going up for bid, including a Tyrannosaurus rex tooth expected to fetch between $2,500 and $3,000, a three-foot-long fin belonging to a underwater apex predator from the Cretaceous era and a 75-million-year-old ammolite (organic gemstone) that could garner up to $33,000.
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An artist’s render of a saber-tooth cat. The auction house says the Hoplophoneus skeleton is not of ‘major scientific interest’
While most people expect to find fossils in a museum, not a private collection, Cuenin insists the Hoplophoneus is not of ‘major scientific interest.’
‘We’ve found several dozen of them, individuals from the same species,’ he told AFP.
Auction house director Bernard Piguet added that ‘the museums are already well stocked.’
Piguet antiquities specialist Fabrice Van Rutten compared the Hoplophoneus to a great work of art, offering ‘universal’ appeal without religious or cultural baggage.
‘It speaks to all of us regarding where we come from on Earth,’ he said. ‘I think this is one of the rare artistic areas without borders.’
WERE SABRE-TOOTH CATS BORN WITH THEIR MASSIVE TEETH?
Smilodon fatalis lived in North and South America before going extinct about 10,000 years ago.
Though its one of several fanged predators often called ‘saber-toothed tigers,’ none are closely related to the tiger or other modern cats.
And while it may have been capable of slaying horses and rhinos, Smilodon only got its famous fangs around age three.
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Research suggests that the saber-tooth cat’s long dagger-shaped fangs developed later in life
But once they emerged, their protruding canines grew quickly — and could reach up to seven inches in length.
Although well-preserved fossils are available, very little is known about the ages at which the animals reached key developmental stages.
Researchers from Clemson University examining specimens recovered from the La Brea Tar Pits used data from isotope analyses and information from previous studies to calculate when the Smilodon’s perɱaпent upper canines came in, as well as other growth events.
They believe that the inᴛι̇ɱidating hunters got most of their teeth by 14 to 22 months of age, with the exception of their famous ‘fangs.’