Dinosaur tail in auction for Mexico quake reconstruction

On Tuesday, a fossilized dinosaur tail discovered in Morocco was auctioned in Mexico to raise funds for the reconstruction of thousands of schools damaged by two earthquakes that struck the country last year, an 8.2-magnitude quake on Thursday, September 7, followed by a 7.1-magnitude quake on Tuesday, September 19 .

The 4-meter- (13-foot)-long, 180-kg (396-pound) tail was offered at a reserve price of MXN$1.8 million ( USD$95,805 ), according to organizer Morton’s Auction House . Anything raised above the reserve price will be donated to the B BVA Bancomer Foundation to help finance the reconstruction of some 5,000 damaged schools .

The extremity belonged to a 17-meter (56-foot), 22-tonne sauropod of the Atlasaurus imelakei species that roamed the Atlas Mountains of Morocco during the Middle Jurassic , some 165 million years ago.

The group of dinosaurs called sauropods were massive four-legged plant-eaters with long necks and long tails and included the largest land animals ever on Earth.

The two September quakes in Mexico killed an estimated 480 people and caused billions of dollars worth of damage.

A Mexican businessman , who asked not to be named because he did not want publicity, purchased the fossil for his collection.

sg