A dinosaur skeleton of a Diplodocus longus, which is 55 feet long and 19 feet tall, is going to be auctioned off in Britain. The sale is believed to be the first for such a large skeleton.
The skeleton, which was nicked "Misty," was found in 2009, The Independent reports. Paleontologist Raimund Albersdoerfer's sons, Benjamin and Jacob, discovered the nearly intact skeleton in 2009 in Wyoming.
The find was near a privately owned quarry Albersdoerfer was digging at. His sons were annoying him, so the paleontologist sent them to dig a little further away "to get them off his back."
They returned later to their father claiming to have found a large bone. It took nine weeks of digging to remove the skeleton. Misty was removed to a Holland fossil laboratory to be prepared before being sent to the U.K. to be assembled.
Curator Errol Fuller, who will be auctioning off Misty, noted that only about six skeletons are in museums, The Associated Press reports.
Misty's sellers believe the skeleton should go for more than $640,000 at Summers Place Auctions in West Sussex. The skeleton's auction is set for Nov. 27.
image: Wikimedia Commons
