It was a late Jurassic unveiling at the American Museum of Natural History. 

A group of students from The Neighborhood School on the Lower East Side gasped at the sight of a big fossil named Apex on a recent visit. It’s thought to be one of the largest and most complete Stegosaurus fossils ever found. 

At 11-and-a-half feet tall and 27 feet long, it was found nearly 80% complete by Jason Cooper, a commercial paleontologist, in May 2022 in Colorado. Missing pieces were filled in with 3D and sculpted components.

"It is not everyday one gets to unveil a really cool, big dinosaur. That's one of the things that I think is special about this museum. This is the museum that is world renowned for its dinosaur collection and dinosaur halls and the fact that something like this can be seen alongside our kinda classic iconic dinosaurs is really exciting," Sean Decatur, the president of the museum, said. 

The 150 million-year-old fossil was purchased by financier Kenneth Griffin at auction from Sotheby's in July, and loaned to the museum for display.

It is currently in the Gilder Center through next fall and then on the fourth floor at the entrance to the museum's famed dinosaur halls. It's expected to be at the museum for four years.

Macaulay Curator of Paleontology Roger Benson says it's there for people to see, but also for museum researchers to take advantage of.

"We have amazing dinosaur fossils on display at the American Museum of Natural History, some of the best in the world, but for Stegosaurus in particular, this is a beautiful fossil, and it's such an iconic cool dinosaur," Benson said.