- Muslim women break taboos navigating east London's waterways
- Nepal dam-building spree powers electric vehicle boom
- More than 60 dead from storm Helene as rescue, cleanup efforts grow
- Dozens missing, 9 dead in migrant boat wreck off Spanish Canaries
- Death toll from Hurricane John hits eight in Mexico
- Storm Helene's toll rises as rescue and cleanup efforts gain pace
- SpaceX launches mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding as cleanup begins
- SpaceX set to launch mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Boeing strike grinds on as latest talks fail to reach agreement
- Iran 'news' sites, hackers target Trump ahead of US election
- US ports brace for potential dockworkers strike
- Japan's speedy, spotless Shinkansen bullet trains turn 60
- US hurricane deaths rise to 44, fears of more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Global stocks mostly rise, cheering Beijing stimulus
- Europe en route for Moon with new simulator, says astronaut Pesquet
- Fireworks forecast if comet survives risky Sun flypast
- Argentina judge orders dictionary to delete pejorative definition of 'Jewish'
- Global stocks rise on rate hopes, Beijing stimulus
- S.African woman turns 118, among the oldest in the world
- UK clears $4 bn AI partnership between Amazon, Anthropic
- Barca fans barred from Champions League away game over racist banner
- Chinese stocks extend surge, Europe higher on Beijing stimulus
- Pope says Church must 'seek forgiveness' for child sexual abuse
- China caps week of 'bazooka' stimulus for ailing economy with rate cut
- Cuts, cash, credit: China bids to jumpstart flagging economy
- France's debt weighs heavier ahead of budget debate
- Iran treads carefully, backing Hezbollah while avoiding war
- Return to sender: waste stranded at sea stirs toxic dispute
- 'Broken' news industry faces uncertain future
- On remote Greek island, migratory birds offer climate clues
- Taken from mother by nuns, victim seeks answers as pope visits Belgium
- China cuts amount banks hold in reserve to boost lending
- Hong Kong, Shanghai extend surge as China optimism boosts markets
- Vietnam president reiterates support for Cuba during official visit
- Drought reduces Amazon River in Colombia by as much as 90%: report
- Stay or go? Pacific Islanders face climate's grim choice
- Florida bracing for 'unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene
- Poverty rises to over 52 percent in Milei's Argentina
- Chloe's see-through look may not be for Kamala Harris
- Champagne houses abuzz over English sparkling wine
- Macron, Trudeau pledge to work for 'decarbonized' economies
- Hurricanes, storms, typhoons... Is September wetter than usual?
- China stimulus, tech optimism boost stock markets
- 'Unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene races towards Florida
- Macron meets Trudeau in Canada as both face political setbacks
- South Korea surges in UN innovation index
- Chloe's see-through look may not be for Kamala
- Floods threaten Niger's historic 'gateway to the desert'
Trinity the T-rex claws in more than $6 million
A composite Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton called Trinity sold for 5.5 million Swiss francs ($6.1 million) in a rare auction on Tuesday.
The 3.9-metre (12.8-foot) high skeleton, made up of bones from three different T-rexes estimated at 65 to 67 million years old, was sold at the Koller auction house in Zurich after being shipped from the United States in nine giant crates.
The skeleton fetched a hammer price of 4.8 million Swiss francs, rising to 5.5 million with the buyer's premium added on.
Trinity was put up for sale by an anonymous US private individual and was expected to fetch between five and eight million Swiss francs.
It was bought by a private European collector.
As its name suggests, Trinity is made up of bones from three dinosaurs -- excavated between 2008 and 2013 from the Hell Creek and Lance Creek formations in Montana and Wyoming.
The sites are known for the discoveries of two other significant T-rex skeletons that have gone to auction.
"Sue" went under the hammer in 1997 for $8.4 million, while "Stan" took the world-record hammer price of $31.8 million at Christie's, in 2020.
On Trinity, vertebrate palaeontologist Thomas Holtz -- who is against the sale of such specimens -- told AFP that it was "misleading" and "inappropriate... to combine multiple real bones from different individuals to create a single skeleton."
Just over half of the bone material in the skeleton comes from the three Tyrannosaurus specimens -- above the 50 percent level needed for experts to consider such a skeleton as high quality.
Holtz, of the University of Maryland, remained sceptical, insisting that Trinity "really isn't a 'specimen' so much as it is an art installation".
He also took issue with auctions of significant dinosaur skeletons and other fossils, which have raked in tens of millions of dollars in recent years.
Experts have warned such trade could be harmful to science by putting the specimens in private hands and out of the reach of researchers.
But Christian Link of Koller stressed that 95 percent of known T-rexes are currently in museums.
S.F.Lacroix--CPN