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An almost-complete skeleton of a woolly mammoth, complete with tusks, is being offered up in a rare auction. 

The specimen, which is an incredible 11.4ft (3.5 metres) high and 18ft (5.5 metres) long, is expected to attract bidders from both museums and private collectors.

Rupert van Der Werff, director of Summers Place Auctions that is selling the mammoth, says the Ice Age remains could fetch up to £250,000 ($409,000).

An almost-complete skeleton of a woolly mammoth is being offered up for auction – complete with tusks. The rare specimen, which is an incredible 11.4ft (3.5 metres) high and 18ft (5.5 metres) long, is expected to attract bidders from both museums and private collectors

'Nearly complete skeletons are pretty rare. This is a fabulous skeleton in pretty good condition,' he told Ashish Joshi at Sky News.

'All sorts of people are collectors. The most famous ones are John Travolta and Leonardo DiCaprio. It's something to really show off about.'

The woolly mammoth is thought to be a male who would have weighed over six tonnes when it roamed Earth 10,000 years ago.

Alistair Morris and Linsay Hoadley from Summers Place give the enormous mammoth a final dusting.  Anyone with with enough room to house this skeleton can now bid for it at Summers Place in West Sussex

Rupert van Der Werff, director of Summers Place Auctions that is selling the mammoth, says the Ice Age remains could fetch up to £250,000 ($409,000)

It would have been covered in long fur on top, with a shorter undercoat. Although quite similar to today's elephant, it had smaller ears and a shorter tail to retain heat.

Its habitat was the mammoth steppe, stretching across northern Eurasia and North America, so its diet was mainly grass and rushes, which explains why it only had four molar teeth and curved tusks.

The woolly mammoth co-existed with early humans, who hunted them for food and used their bones and tusks for making art.

Up until now, the mammoth has been part of an old Eastern European private collection. Due to its huge size, it has only been pieced together recently.

The mammoth will be sold at Summer Place Auctions' 'Evolution' sale on Wednesday, 26 November in Billingshurst, West Sussex.

Last year a diplodocus skeleton sold at auction for more than £400,000 ($654,000).

Due to its size, the mammoth, which has been part of an old Eastern European private collection for many years, has only been pieced together recently. The remains will be sold at Summer Place Auctions' 'Evolution' sale on Wednesday, 26th November in Billingshurst, West Sussex