On July 17, Apex, bones of a cool stegosaurus dinosaur fossil, made waves in a sale for a staggering $44.6 million at Sotheby’s in New York City. The lucky buyer? Billionaire Ken Griffin, the CEO of Citadel. He plans to loan this incredible piece of history to American institutions for display, which sounds awesome. But not everyone in the palaeontology world is thrilled about the trend of fossils being sold at auction.
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In recent years, the dinosaur fossil market has exploded. Believe it or not, eight of the ten most expensive fossils were sold in just the last four years! This crazy rise in prices is leaving museums and research institutions in the dust, making it hard for them to snag fossils that could really boost palaeontological research.
Many palaeontologists are worried that as more fossils end up in private hands, it will be tougher to get access to them for research. There’s a real fear that the number of fossils available for study will drop, making it harder for scientists to do their work. Plus, access to important dig sites might get restricted as collectors buy up fossils, which complicates things for researchers trying to uncover more about our planet’s history.
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In a recent chat on SciFri, guest host Kathleen Davis sat down with Dr. Steve Brusatte, a palaeontology professor at the University of Edinburgh, to talk about what this all means for science. As fossils become more about private ownership, the future of palaeontological research could face some serious challenges. It raises big questions about who gets to study these amazing remnants of our planet’s past.
-Agencies/SciFri
