Unique skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex relative auctioned off in US – BBC
A well-preserved Gorgosaurus skeleton has been sold at auction to an unknown buyer in the United States for more than $6 million.
About it informs BBC news.
A Gorgosaurus fossil, a distant relative of the famous and deadly Tyrannosaurus Rex, has been auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York. The fossil was discovered in the US state of Montana and consists of 79 bone elements, has a height of 3 meters and a length of 6.7 meters.
Anonymous buyer will have a unique opportunity to assign a nickname to an extinct predator. This is the only copy of its kind that has been put up for sale in private ownership.
Only 20 such fossils are known to exist worldwide.
This is the second ever sale of a dinosaur skeleton put up for auction by Sotheby’s. The first, a Tyrannosaurus named Sue, was sold to the Chicago Museum of Natural History in 1997 for $8.3 million.
Gorgosaurus lived on Earth about 77 million years ago, and like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, had a large head, a mouth full of curved, serrated teeth, and small, two-toed forelimbs. Although smaller than its dinosaur cousin, Gorgosaurus was faster, more ferocious, and possessed a stronger bite for “cutting thick skin and penetrating deep into the flesh of its prey.”
Other natural history items up for auction included a complete Tyrannosaurus rex molar that sold for just over $100,000, a Triceratops skull for $661,500, and a saber-toothed tiger skull.
