Build your own Jurassic Park starting with Misty

The World
The diplodocus fossil named Misty.

A 60-foot-long dinosaur went up for auction in Britain on Wednesday. Her name is Misty and she's a diplodocus fossil with a long neck and a whip-like tail.

Misty roamed the earth during the late Jurassic period. And her bones were discovered in Wyoming in 2009 by German palaeontologist Raimund Albersdoerfer.

Albersdoerfer's young sons were playing near their father's dig when they found a pile of bones at a site called Mystery Quarry. And the pile of bones, when reconstructed, became Misty.

She was sold for more than $600,000. "Why would anyone want this dinosaur?" 

"Well one, it's intrinsically interesting; two, it's spectacular; three, it's going to impress your friends," said Errol Fuller, a curator with Summers Place Auctions. "I mean, someone paid £28 million for a Ferrari the other day. What's going to impress your friends more, a dinosaur in the barn or a Ferrari?  Well, I think a dinosaur."

The dinosaur won't be kept in a barn. The anonymous winning bidder has promised to put Misty on public display.

Will you support The World?

The story you just read is not locked behind a paywall because listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Now more than ever, we need your help to support our global reporting work and power the future of The World. Can we count on you?