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Triceratops skeleton fails to sell

The skeleton of a Triceratops dinosaur that roamed the earth some 65 million years ago went unsold at a Paris auction on Wednesday because the bids didn't meet the seller's reserve price, the Christie's auction house said.
A visitor looks at a Triceratops skeleton at the Christie's auction house in Paris
The 25-foot-long Triceratops skeleton was the featured item at Wednesday's natural-history auction in Paris.Philippe Wojazer / Reuters
/ Source: msnbc.com staff and news service reports

The skeleton of a Triceratops dinosaur that roamed the earth some 65 million years ago went unsold at a Paris auction on Wednesday because the bids didn't meet the seller's reserve price, the Christie's auction house said.

The 7.5 meter-long (25-foot-long) skeleton was the first specimen of its quality to be offered at auction since a Tyrannosaurus rex nicknamed Sue was sold in New York more than a decade ago in 1997, Christie's said.

The skeleton had a reserve price of 500,000 euros, or $790,800. Wednesday's highest bid fell 10,000 euros of the reserve — and as a result, the lot went unsold, the auction house said.

A sale could still be arranged at a later time.

The three-horned Triceratops, a herbivorous giant with a huge head thought to be one of the last dinosaurs to evolve before the creatures became extinct, lived in what is now North America, feeding mainly on low growing vegetation.

The skeleton was part of a collection of prehistoric remains including a dinosaur egg, a saber-toothed tiger skull or the tooth of a giant prehistoric shark.

This report includes information from Reuters and msnbc.com.