A Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed “Gus” sold Tuesday for US$50.1 million at Sotheby’s in New York, becoming the most valuable dinosaur fossil ever purchased at auction following a ten-minute bidding war among seven competitors.
Discovered on a South Dakota cattle ranch in 2021, “Gus” ranks among the world’s most complete T. rex specimens, comprising 183 fossilized bones. The predator roamed the earth approximately 72 to 66 million years ago during a period marked by a warm climate, elevated sea levels, and expansive flood-prone coastal plains.
Measuring 11.6 metres (38 feet) in length, the skeleton represents one of the largest T. rexes ever unearthed and is roughly 63 percent complete.
The acquisition by an anonymous buyer underscores a surging market for dinosaur fossils—a trend that has drawn criticism from some paleontologists concerned about scientifically significant specimens disappearing into private collections.
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