NEW YORK (AP) — The almost full fossilized stays of a 161-million-year-old stegosaurus found in Colorado in 2022 might be auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York subsequent week, public sale home officers stated.

The dinosaur that Sotheby’s calls Apex stands 11 toes (3.3 meters) tall and measures 27 toes (8.2 meters) nostril to tail, in accordance with Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s international head of science and fashionable tradition.

The stegosaurus, with its distinctive pointy dorsal plates, is without doubt one of the world’s most recognizable dinosaurs.

Apex, which Hatton known as “a coloring guide dinosaur,” was found in Could 2022 on personal land close to the city of Dinosaur, Colorado. The excavation was accomplished in October 2023, Sotheby’s stated.

Although consultants imagine stegosauruses used their fearsome tail spikes to struggle, this specimen reveals no indicators of fight, Sotheby’s stated. The fossil does present proof of arthritis, suggesting that Apex lived to a complicated age.

Hatton stated Apex was discovered “with the tail curled up beneath the physique, which is a standard loss of life pose for animals.”

The dinosaur might be auctioned on July 17 as a part of Sotheby’s “Geek Week” collection.

Sotheby’s is estimating that it’ll promote for $4 million to $6 million, however that’s simply an informed guess.

“That is an extremely uncommon animal,” Hatton stated. “A stegosaurus of this caliber has by no means offered at public sale earlier than, so we are going to discover out what it’s truly price.”