Going, Going...Really, Really Gone

The sinking economy continues to affect the market for prehistoric fossils. Earlier this year, a near-complete Triceratops skeleton failed to meet the reserve price at a Christie's auction (it was later snapped up for a million bucks by a dinosaur buff and donated to the Boston Museum of Science), and now, according to the Anchorage Daily News, the skull of a prehistoric lion that lived alongside the earliest humans also failed to meet its auction reserve.

Of course, a 36,000-year-old lion isn't in the same league as a 70-million-year-old Triceratops. The skull was expected to fetch about $40,000, but the bidding (at a natural history auction in Los Angeles) petered out at a mere $19,000. Perhaps the owner will try again after the Dow recovers from its recent (unnatural) disaster.