Two fossilized dinosaurs locked in a never-ending duel will be auctioned off in NYC to the dismay of scientists.
The dinosaur's dueling positions could provide rare insight into their behavior, and both of the specimens could be new species' of dinosaur, Gulf News reported.
The skeletons were found on a private ranch, the "Montana dueling dinosaurs," will go for between seven and nine million dollars.
"This lines their pockets but hurts science," Thomas Carr, the senior scientific adviser at the Dinosaur Discovery Museum, said.
Museums will have the opportunity to purchase the specimens, and a private buyer could make them available for scientific study, but there is no guarantee.
In other countries such as China, fossils are under strict government control. In the U.S. fossils found on private lands are fair game.
The dueling dinos were found in the Hell Creek formation, which covers North and South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming.
Clayton Phipps discovered the extraordinary fossils while excavating a neighbor's land.
The fossils were in great shape, there was even what was believed to be pieces of fossilized skin. Teeth from the attacking predator were found embedded in the herbivore's neck. Damage to the carnivore's skull suggested it had been kicked in the head during the battle.
Both specimens could be never-before-seen breeds of dinosaurs. The pygmy tyrannosaur may be a new genus, but it also could have simply been a juvenile. The plant eating ceratopsian may also be from an undiscovered genus, the fossil had an unusually shaped skull and an extra horn.
Besides losing the opportunity to study the fossils, scientists also worry the specimens have been damaged by amateur exhumation.
"I don't think it is important at all because it was not collected as a scientific specimen," Jack Horner of Montana State University ,said. "So in my book, it is worthless."
Thomas E. Lindgren, a sale advisor for the dinosaur's auction, disagrees.
"There will never be a finer dinosaur specimen available anywhere in the world," he said.
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