The Billionaire Dinosaur Trend: Montana’s Fossil Market Heats Up

Montana is one of the more popular destinations for finding dinosaur fossils in the entire world. It's something that makes Montana great.

Who remembers the Jurassic Park movies? In the first movie Sam Neill's character "Alan Grant" was based on real-life Paleontologist Jack Horner, who was born in Montana.

Read More: The First One of These Was Found in Montana

Montana is also known for finding "Sue", the best-preserved Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton ever found. If you want to check it out, you may want to take a trip over to the Museum of the Rockies.

Read More: Discover SUE: The Ultimate T.Rex Experience in Montana

According to the New York Post billionaires are bidding on and buying dinosaur bones as a status symbol. This past year a billionaire by the name of Ken Griffin purchased a skeleton of a Stegosaurus, named "Apex", for $44.6 million. The skeleton is currently on loan to the American Museum of Natural History, though it's privately owned. This isn't the first time that has happened.

One of the more popular auctions to take place was back in 2007 when Leonardo DiCaprio and Nicolas Cage had a bidding war to purchase a Tyrannosaurus Bataar skull. Nicolas Cage won the auction. He eventually returned the skull to Mongolia, where the skull was discovered, according to the BBC.

According to reports there is going to be a natural history museum opening in Abu Dhabi later this year, and they are purchasing a lot of dinosaur fossils for their museum.

Not all sales of dinosaur bones are made public, so we may never know where some of Montana's fossils will end up. Some collectors don't want the public to know, because that information can drive up the prices at auction. If Montana is willing to sell any of our fossils, it looks like there is a market out there with people who are buying.