Rare dinosaur 'Barry' up for sale at Paris auction

An almost fully complete dinosaur skeleton will be sold at auction in Paris next month.

The rare 150 million-year-old camptosaurus was first discovered in the 1990s in the US by palaeontologist Barry James.

Named Barry after the man who found him in Wyoming, experts said he is "extremely well preserved".

The skeleton is expected to fetch up to €1.2m ($1.2m, £970,000) at Hotel Drouot on 20 October.

Dating back to the late Jurassic period and after two restorations in 2000 and 2022, Barry measures 2.1 metres (6.9 feet) tall and 5 metres (16.4 ft) long.

It is unusual to see a dinosaur skeleton so in tact, said Alexandre Giquello, from the auction house Hotel Drouot.

"To take the example of its skull, the skull is complete at 90% and the rest of the dinosaur is complete at 80%," he said.

Sales of dinosaur fossils are rare, with only a small number taking place each year globally - although some experts have raised concerns about specimens finding their way into private hands.

Speaking to the BBC at the time, Prof Steve Brusatte, a dinosaur expert at Edinburgh University, said he was concerned the skeletons, which are "scientifically very valuable" could "disappear into the vaults of private collectors".