You can currently catch a glimpse of a primeval giant in Switzerland: the skeleton of a mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex is on display in Zurich. It is almost four meters high and more than eleven meters long. However, the brown, petrified cooks are not on display in a museum, but in the run-up to an auction. "Trinity" is to be sold to the highest bidder in mid-April. Dinosaur skeleton auctions are not common, but they do happen. Private sales are not prohibited.

Nevertheless, the skeleton, nicknamed "Trinity," is only the third Tyrannosaurus Rex to be auctioned - and the first to come onto the market in Europe. "It's not a cast or a copy, it's an original," says Swiss paleontologist Hans-Jakob Siber. "And there are very, very few of them. In fact, as of the 1970s or 1980s, fewer than a dozen Tyrannosaurus specimens are known, most of which were already in museums in the United States."

However, "Trinity" also has a little secret that the name ("Trinity") already reveals: The impressive skeleton consists of the remains of three different animals. Finding a complete tyrannosaurus skeleton is as likely as winning the lottery three times in a row. This should only be partially detrimental to the value of the T-Rex: the auction house in Zurich expects proceeds of five to eight million euros.

A comparison with well-preserved skeletons from a single animal can be drawn using two specimens sold in the USA in 1997 and 2020: "Sue" changed hands for 8.4 million US dollars, "Stan" even for 31.8 Millions. So if you have the wherewithal to put a real T-Rex in your living room, you now have a unique opportunity - it would of course be nicer if the buyer decided to send "Trinity" to a museum after all, so that the The general public has the chance to marvel at the impressive skeleton.

Sources: CNN, "My Switzerland"