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The\u00a0nearly complete fossilized remains of a stegosaurus<\/a>\u00a0fetched $44.6 million at auction Wednesday, Sotheby\u2019s said. The buyer\u2019s name was not disclosed.<\/p>\n The fossil, dubbed \u201cApex,\u201d is considered to be among the most complete ever found, according to the auction house.<\/p>\n The price blew past a pre-sale estimate of $4 million to $6 million and past a prior auction record for dinosaur fossils \u2014 $31.8 million for the remains of a\u00a0Tyrannosaurus rex nicknamed Stan<\/a>, sold in 2020.<\/p>\n Apex \u201chas now taken its place in history, some 150 million years since it roamed the planet,\u201d said Cassandra Hatton, who heads Sotheby\u2019s science-related business.<\/p>\n Dinosaur fossil sales stir some frustration among academic paleontologists who feel the specimens belong in museums or research centers that can\u2019t afford huge auction prices.<\/p>\n Sotheby\u2019s said the anonymous buyer is American and intends to look into loaning Apex to an institution in the U.S. The purchaser beat out six other bidders.<\/p>\n The stegosaurus was one of the world\u2019s most distinctive\u00a0dinosaurs<\/a>, featuring pointy plates on its back. Hatton has called Apex \u201ca coloring book dinosaur,\u201d for its well-preserved features.<\/p>\n Eleven feet (3.3 meters) tall and 27 feet (8.2 meters) nose to tail, Apex was a big stegosaurus that lived long enough to show signs of arthritis, Sotheby\u2019s said.<\/p>\n A commercial paleontologist named Jason Cooper discovered the fossil in 2022 on his property near, perhaps unsurprisingly, the town of Dinosaur, Colorado. The tiny community is near Dinosaur National Monument and the Utah border.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nRecommended Newsletter: <\/strong>CEO Daily provides key context for the news leaders need to know from across the world of business. Every weekday morning, more than 125,000 readers trust CEO Daily for insights about\u2013and from inside\u2013the C-suite. Subscribe Now<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n