Paris (AFP)

"What is sad is that we cannot compete," laments paleontologist Francis Duranthon, shortly before the Thursday sale of "Big John", the largest known triceratops, whose price is estimated between 1.2 to 1.5 million euros.

"For us, this represents roughly 20 or 25 years of acquisition budget," the scientist, curator and director of the Toulouse Natural History Museum told AFP.

Like many of its counterparts authorized for sale, "Big John" should fall into the hands of a private collector, and potentially escape science and museums, and therefore the general public.

In this specific case, however, the frustration felt seems less.

"There we do not care, because triceratops, we have plenty!", Sweeps Pascal Godefroit, paleontologist at the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences of Belgium.

The species is known and "we already have complete skeletons of triceratops", adds Francis Duranthon.

"It's just that this one is a little bigger."

"Big nonsense"

“But even if it is a triceratops, there are always aspects that we know less well,” notes Annelise Folie, curator of the paleontology collections at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.

"It may be that some bones are better preserved and may provide new information."

The triceratops baptized "Big John", exhibited in Paris on August 31, 2021, before its auction on October 21 Christophe ARCHAMBAULT AFP / Archives

"No one can say in advance whether or not he has information that we do not have," abounds Nour-Eddine Jalil, paleontologist at the Museum of Natural History in Paris.

"But this is a lesser evil", he concedes, because the specimen sold to Drouot was analyzed upstream by professional paleontologists.

This is far from the case with other dinosaur skeletons on the market: the specimens are often poorly identified due to the lack of appropriate scientific expertise.

"Half of the pieces that are on sale, it's big nonsense!", Annoys Pascal Godefroit.

"Too often you have interesting pieces, but which are misidentified or screwed up during reconstitutions, because the bones are mixed with plastic for example".

Unknown or poorly known species can thus pass under the radar.

"If it is a new species, the loss is immense, since we will not even be aware that it existed on Earth", notes Annelise Folie.

But these fossils "constitute our natural heritage" and "are so many clues which inform us about the evolution of the Earth", insists Steve Brusate, American paleontologist, author of the book + The triumph and the fall of the dinosaurs +, translated in 21 languages ​​and just published in France.

- "Jurassic Park" -

These auctions also raise the question of public access.

"Showing a triceratops in a museum is to ignite vocations in the eyes of children", testifies the director of the Toulouse Museum.

The "Big John" triceratop exhibited in the window in Paris on August 31, 2021, before being auctioned on October 21 Christophe ARCHAMBAULT AFP / Archives

"When I was a teenager, the T-Rex Sue skeleton was exhibited at the Field Museum in Chicago. Seeing it helped make me want to become a paleontologist," recalls Steve Brusate, consultant for the film + Jurassic World 3+. (on screens in 2022).

The fate of the scientist could have been quite different if the dinosaur had been enthroned in the living room of a wealthy businessman, he says.

This type of trade has existed since man found fossils, but the first part of "Jurassic Park" in the 1990s aroused a new craze, especially among celebrities.

It is currently impossible to force buyers to leave their specimen available to scientists for study.

But we sometimes manage to "work in harmony", says Pascal Godefroit.

In addition, this trade makes it possible to "bring to light" certain fossils, in the United States in particular: the fact of being able to sell them (under certain conditions) can motivate the realization of excavations in certain countries, recalls Nour-Eddine Jalil.

© 2021 AFP