Stan, a remarkably well-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex from more than 67 million years ago, sold at auction on October 6, for $31.8 million.
The sell smashed the estimated price of $6m, as well as the record for the maximum price paid at auction for a T-rex; Sotheby's sold a dinosaur named Sue in 1997 for $8.4 million.
Stan's anonymous new owner acquired the skeleton after an "intense 10-minute round of bidding" during a live-streamed physical and online auction at Christie's New York.
Dinosaur hunting
The Cretaceous Badlands, which span the US states of Wyoming, Montana and the two Dakotas, has been the discovery site of many fossils, most excavated in varying stages of decay. However, in the spring of 1987, when amateur palaeontologist Stan Sacrison set out to find dinosaur traces on private land in the area, little did he know that he would stumble upon the hip bones of a Tyrannosaurus rex.
I'll never forget the moment I came face to face with him for the first time – he looked even larger and more ferocious than I'd imagined
While about 50 T-rex bones have been discovered since 1902, Stan stands out for being a near-complete male fossil skeleton. Three months after Sacrison's chance discovery, a professional team of archaeologists and palaeontologists put in 30,000 man-hours to extract from the host rock 188 individual bones that were then cleaned, preserved and restored.
Conversation starter
Today, Stan is about 4 metres tall and 12 metres long with his tail outstretched. His eye sockets are the size of baseballs, which would have allowed keen vision for hunting prey at night, and his skull – one of the most complete T-rex examples – could hold 58 teeth, some as long as 28 centimetres. In 2005, the skull was modelled and tested to recreate a bite force that was strong enough to crush a car.
Stan was found with the fossilised and partially digested remains of a duck-billed Edmontosaurus and a Triceratops, a powerful three-horned dinosaur. Each of the herbivore specimens displayed bite marks on their bones, a clue to Stan’s ability to hunt, kill and consume even well-armoured prey.
That is not to say that Stan was indomitable himself. Hatched from an egg, Stan was no larger than a small turkey until the age of 5 and would have required protection from scavengers and his own kind. Between the ages of 6 and 18, though, a T-rex gains an estimated 2.7 kilograms a day.
Even so, as an adult, the fossilised bones indicate that during his lifetime, Stan suffered a broken neck, a punctured rib and vicious puncture wounds to the skull that a rex tooth would neatly fit into. He survived the injuries, all of which were most likely inflicted by another T-rex.
It is not for nothing that the group name for these killers is a “terror of Tyrannosaurs”.
'A brand name like no other'
"I'll never forget the moment I came face to face with him for the first time, after his remount in Colorado – he looked even larger and more ferocious than I had imagined, a specimen that only further establishes the T-rex's position as the king of dinosaurs," says James Hyslop, head of the travel, science and natural history department at Christie's.
"T-rex is a brand name in a way that no other dinosaur is. It sits very naturally against a Picasso, a Jeff Koons or an Andy Warhol."
Stan will continue to be on display in New York until Wednesday, October 21. The skeleton will be visible all day through Christie's floor-to-ceiling gallery windows between Fifth and Sixth Avenue, to offer enthusiasts the chance to see one of the world's most fascinating dinosaurs in a socially distanced setting. Museum-quality educational content will be made available via QR codes.
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Defined benefit and defined contribution schemes explained
Defined Benefit Plan (DB)
A defined benefit plan is where the benefit is defined by a formula, typically length of service to and salary at date of leaving.
Defined Contribution Plan (DC)
A defined contribution plan is where the benefit depends on the amount of money put into the plan for an employee, and how much investment return is earned on those contributions.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
more from Janine di Giovanni
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
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The specs
Engine: 2.3-litre, turbo four-cylinder
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Power: 300hp
Torque: 420Nm
Price: Dh189,900
On sale: now
How to donate
Text the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
6025 - Dh 20
2252 - Dh 50
2208 - Dh 100
6020 - Dh 200
*numbers work for both Etisalat and du
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Norway
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Canada
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Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
