【DAY236】朗读版：“化石猎人”在eBay上高价拍卖霸王龙化石，科学家们怒了

关注趴趴云课公众号，后台回复“喜马拉雅”获取完整版精读笔记

精讲版同步更新中英文本和中文知识点

He Listed a T. Rex Fossil on eBay for $2.95 Million. Scientists Weren’t Thrilled.

A fossil hunter’s attempt to sell a young Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton on eBay for $2.95 million set off a furor among scientists who warned that it needed to be studied, not sold to the highest bidder.

The skeleton’s owner, Alan Detrich, defended his decision to try to sell the 15-foot fossil to a wealthy private collector, arguing that it could still be subject to research.

“It’s very hard to reach a billionaire,” he said in an interview on Wednesday, noting that he hoped a wealthy bidder from Europe or Asia would emerge. “Putting it on eBay is one way to do it.”

That outlook has angered scientists who have questioned why Mr. Detrich lent the skeleton to the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum two years ago. They said that putting it on public view was part of a strategy to sell the specimen to a rich investor.

“Mr. Detrich has tried to capitalize on the museum’s good faith by using the exhibition and scientific attention as selling points” on eBay, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology said in a letter last week.

It added, “These events undermine the scientific process for studying past life as well as the prospect for future generations to share the natural heritage of our planet.”

The skeleton, believed to be a four-year-old T. rex, was displayed at the museum until recently and has been returned to Mr. Detrich.

The museum asked that Mr. Detrich remove all references to the museum from the original eBay listing, which advertises the fossil’s 21-inch skull and 12 teeth in the lower jaw. The fossil hunter complied.

Mr. Detrich, who lives in Overbrook, Kans., said that he hoped the exposure from the eBay sale would attract a billionaire wealthy enough to pay his $2.95 million price tag. He did not inform the museum of the sale, he said, but did offer to give it a cast of the specimen.