In late September, the fossilized remains of the largest three-horned Triceratops dinosaur ever discovered by paleontologists will be sold at an auction house in Paris. The dinosaur, known as "Big John", may fetch 1.5 million euros ($1.77 million).
Big John roamed the land, now known as South Dakota, more than 66 million years ago.
Paleontologists discovered its first part of its bones in 2014, eventually finding 60% of its skeleton, including its nearly complete skull.
Auction house Drew estimated that the skeleton of Big John would fetch between 1.2 and 1.5 million euros.
Once sold primarily to museums, dinosaur remains are increasingly attracting private buyers, although their numbers are still few.
"I think there are 10 buyers around the world for this kind of part," said Alexandre Gikello, who runs the sale.
The length of the skull of "Big John", named after the owner of the land where the bones of more than 200 dinosaurs were found, is 2.63 meters, representing about a third of his total body length, and its width is two meters.
