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Triceratops skeleton 'Big John' sells for 6.6m euros at Paris auction

The largest skeleton ever found of a triceratops dinosaur, dating from the the Cretaceous period around 66 million years ago, discovered in the US in 2014 and composed of 200 pieces, has sold at the Paris Drouot auction house for 6.65 million euros.

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The fossilised remains of Big John, the largest triceratops dinosaur ever found, have been sold at an auction in the French capital, reports BBC News.

The skeleton fetched a European record price of 6.65 million euros ($7.74m; £5.6m).

Some 66 million years ago, Big John roamed modern-day South Dakota in the US, where the dinosaur's bones were unearthed in 2014.

With its huge collared skull and three horns, the plant-eating triceratops was a giant of the Cretaceous period.

A private, anonymous collector from the US bought Big John's skeleton, which was put on public display at the Drouot auction house in Paris last week.

The collector was "absolutely thrilled with the idea of being able to bring a piece like this to his personal use", Djuan Rivers, a representative for the buyer, said.

The palaeontologists who discovered Big John managed to dig up 60% of the dinosaur's skeleton.

Its 200 pieces - including the 2 metres-wide skull of the dinosaur - were painstakingly assembled by specialists in Trieste, Italy. Those bones form a skeleton 8m long by 3m high.

There are signs of damage on the skull where researchers believe the dinosaur may have been struck by another in a battle.

Read more of this report from BBC News.