Baby dinosaur for sale, just $750,000

It is 150 -- 155 million years old and the first dinosaur of its kind to be discovered in such good condition.

Fossil of an adult allosaurus

But how much is a teenage fossil worth?

Paleontologists will find out exactly how much it will be on Wednesday (November 25) as an incredibly rare juvenile allosaurus goes under the hammer. Experts believe that the dinosaur could sell for at least $750,000, or over a million dollars in Singapore currency.

A model of an allosaurus in Poland

The 2.75m-long carnivore found in Wyoming (the U.S.) and nicknamed "Young Al" is only the second juvenile allosaurus specimen to be found.

The distictive banding of the Morrison Formation, a group of rock layers that originated as muds and sands laid down by ancient rivers

Said an auctioneer in charge of the sale,

"This is a very exciting but nerve-wracking time for us. The first juvenile allosaurus was just a couple of limb bones and three ribs, so this is by far the most intact specimen."

The young dino was found by a professional fossil hunter, who asked to remain anonymous, in the Morrisson Formation, a rich fossil bearing area. But despite the hefty price tag, the anonymous owner is unlikely to profit from the excavation.

Sauropod dinosaur bone in sandstone found in the Morrison Formation

Added the auctioneer,

“Dinosaur excavation is a pretty expensive business. The excavation took a big team three years to complete. Fossil hunting is not something you ought to do if you want to make a profit."

An elephant bird egg in a museum in Hungary

Other items on sale at the auction house in Sussex, southern England, include an enormous elephant bird egg, a wooly mammoth skull that is up to 20 million years old, and a stegosaurus tail spike.

(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)