Dinosaur fit for the living room to be sold at Paris auction

Paris: A small dinosaur skeleton will go on sale in Paris next month and is estimated to sell for between 400,000 and 500,000 euros ($495,000), auction house Giquello said.

Unlike huge dinosaur skeletons sold at earlier auctions, the fossilized iguanodon skeleton stands just 1.3 metre high and is three metres (9.8 ft) long.

It was discovered in 2019 in Colorado, U.S., during road-building on private land.

"It's a dinosaur for a living room," auctioneer Alexandre Giquello said, referring to the size.

The creature is estimated to have lived more than 150 million years ago. Its remains have been restored by a team of Italian paleontologists.

The skeleton will be auctioned on October 20. In 2020, the same auction house sold a 3.5 metre (11 feet) high and 10 metre long dinosaur skeleton for 3 million euros.

Expert Iacopo Briano shows the skull of Zephyr, the Jurassic age (161-145 million years) dinosaur skeleton discovered in 2019 in Colorado, U.S., displayed at Giquello auction house in Paris, France.