Giant Bone Found During Walk... Digging Reveals '8m Giant Dinosaur' Billion-Won Windfall

Complete Stegosaurus Fossil Discovered
Scheduled for Auction in New York...Valued at Tens of Billions of Won

A story has emerged about an American man who discovered gigantic dinosaur bones while taking a walk in his backyard on his birthday, leading to tens of millions of dollars in profit. The British BBC broadcast on the 31st of last month (local time) focused on the story of Jason Cooper, an American who sold dinosaur bones at a New York auction and pocketed a huge sum of money. Cooper reportedly found the dinosaur bones while walking in the backyard of his privately owned land on his birthday.

Cooper discovered the dinosaur bones several years ago. At that time, he found part of a Stegosaurus skeleton buried in the ground, which was large enough to surpass the leg of a robust adult man. Sensing that this dinosaur bone would be a "discovery of the century," Cooper soon began excavation work.

A part of the dinosaur bone discovered by Jason Cooper. [Image source=Captured from BBC homepage]

With the help of acquaintances, he excavated all the bones of the Stegosaurus, then cleaned and reassembled the skeleton piece by piece. The result was a gigantic dinosaur skeleton measuring 3.5 meters in height and 8.2 meters in length from head to tail. Cooper reportedly described the completed Stegosaurus bones as the "Apex."

Appearance of Stegosaurus fossil. [Image source=Getty Images]

Cooper is now planning to send the dinosaur to an auction house in New York. The BBC reported that the bidding competition is expected to be very intense. Dinosaur fossils enjoy high popularity, attracting not only billionaires but also Hollywood stars to participate in the auctions. For example, in 2007, Hollywood stars Nicolas Cage and Leonardo DiCaprio competed in bidding for a Tyrannosaurus skull. At that time, the price of the skull soared to ?185,000 (approximately 326.3 million KRW).

Cooper’s private land is located in the western United States, where the so-called "Morrison Formation," a Jurassic period sedimentary rock layer covering 600,000 square miles (about 1.55 million km²), is formed. The BBC likened the Morrison Formation to a "gold vein" during the Gold Rush for fossil hunters.

The value of the fossil Cooper plans to sell is estimated to be between 4 to 6 million dollars (approximately 5.5 to 8.3 billion KRW). However, the BBC reported that some in the scientific community expressed disappointment at his decision to sell the fossil at auction, as it means that a valuable scientific research specimen will become a private collection.