“The most electrifying man in sports entertainment” was dazzling NFL fans with what was behind him rather than with what he was doing or saying during the broadcast. Fans were perplexed to see a Tyrannosaurus Rex skull sitting over his left shoulder.
Owned by the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research in South Dakota, the skeleton is known as “Stan” for the amateur paleontologist Stan Sacrison who found the initial bones in 1987. The bones were discovered in a remote area that spans North and South Dakota, 怀俄明州, and Montana. Stan, with an estimated value between $ 6 万和 $ 8 百万, is considered one of the largest and most complete examples of a T-Rex, 与 188 original bones. The skeleton will be auctioned as part of Christie’s 20th Century evening auction on Oct. 6 在纽约. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Eli Manning asked Johnson about the skull.
“I got a T-Rex skull. That’s Stan. 事实上, so Stan was the most complete T. Rex skull ever found by a paleontologist, a young paleontologist and his name was Stan. 所以, this T. Rex head was named after him,” 约翰逊说.
“Pretty cool and bad a** isn’t it?”
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The dinosaur in question was discovered over 30 years ago in South Dakota by a paleontologist named Stan Sacrison. It was fully excavated in 1992 and was housed at the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, 根据 National Geographic.
A Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur fossil skeleton is displayed in a gallery at Christie’s auction house on September 17, 2020 在纽约市. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
That was until Oct. 6, 2020, in which the Christie’s auction house sold the T-Rex for $ 31.8 百万, the highest price ever paid for a fossil. The bidder was never named.
“That’s an astronomical price that borders on absurdity, based on my knowledge of the market,” paleontologist David Evans told the magazine at the time. “If this kind of money [是] invested properly, it could easily fund 15 permanent dinosaur research positions, 或关于 80 full field expeditions per year, in perpetuity.”
Dwayne Johnson attends the World Premiere Of Disney’s “Jungle Cruise” at Disneyland on July 24, 2021 in Anaheim, 加利福尼亚州. (Frazer Harrison/WireImage)
The appearance of the skull set off a firestorm on social media.
The object in question appeared to only be the skull and not the rest of the fossil, which could indicate it was just a replica sitting behind the pro wrestling legend.
