This is Hector. At roughly 110 million years old, Hector is an incredibly rare example of a Deinonychus antirrhopus skeleton โ ingrained in popular culture as the Velociraptor. One of the most famous (albeit incorrectly labelled) dinos in the world, Hector just racked up an incredible price tag of US$12.4 million (AU$17.7 million) at a Christieโs auction.
Thatโs right. Pretty much everything the Jurassic Park franchise has taught you about the Velociraptor is incorrect. They were in actual fact these feathered, bird-like creatures that weighed around 45 kilos. As the NBAโs Toronto Raptors and Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton would tell you, the name just lends a sense of coolness to it that Deinonychus antirrhopus canโt quite match.
Of course, the real money-maker here is the Deinonychus antirrhopus. The agile, bipedal dinosaur with scales and sickle-shaped claws on its feet is the one an undisclosed buyer was willing to shell out the big dollars for. The eventual price of US$12.4 million (AU$17.7 million) with fees actually doubled the auction houseโs estimated high of US$6 million (AU$8.6 million).
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The Deionychus name perhaps deserves a little more respect, though. When paleontologist John H. Ostrom first discovered the speciesโ fossils back in 1964, he gave it the name which means โterrible clawโ in reference to the way he believed they disembowelled prey. Ostromโs discovery is widely considered to be foundational to the way scientists understand dinosaurs today.
The recently purchased fossil contains 126 real bones, with many โ including most of the skull โ having to be reconstructed. Hector was originally excavated using a scalpel and toothbrush from private land in Montana, USA about a decade ago by self-taught paleontologists Jack and Roberta Owen. Commercial paleontologist Jared Hudson then bought and prepared the specimen prior to this recent auction, attempting to restore Hector close to the glory days of the Early Cretaceous period.
โI had no idea it would end up at Christieโs,โ says Jack Owen.
โItโs about the hunt; itโs about the findโฆ Youโre the only human being in the world who has touched that animal, and thatโs priceless.โ
