Rare T. Rex skeleton heads to Sotheby's auction

One of the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons ever discovered, known as "Gus," has been valued at $30 million but could sell for even more when it goes under the hammer at a Sotheby's auction on July 14.

The dinosaur, which lived around 67 million years ago, was discovered in 2021 on a ranch in South Dakota, United States. Measuring 11.5 meters in length and 3.8 meters in height, the fossil preserves a bite mark on its skull and several other injuries believed to have resulted from combat with other dinosaurs, CE Report quotes ANSA.

The expected record-breaking sale has raised concerns within the scientific community.

"It is not wrong to recognize the value of the work and investment required to recover and prepare these large fossils," said paleontologist Simone Maganuco, a collaborator with the Natural History Museum of Milan. "However, the risk is that they will be removed from scientific research and public access. If the prices were lower, many more museums could afford to acquire them."

Paleontologist Filippo Bertozzo, who previously worked at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and is set to join the University of Lisbon, warned that the auction could represent a significant scientific loss.

"We hope the buyer will donate the fossil to a public institution," Bertozzo said.

He noted that unique specimens such as Gus can provide an enormous amount of scientific data, but if they remain in the private collection of a wealthy buyer, much of their research value is lost because leading scientific journals generally do not accept studies based on specimens that are not housed in public institutions.

Keeping the fossil out of museums would also deprive the public of an opportunity to engage with science and learn about the natural world.

Gus is not an isolated case. The five most expensive dinosaur fossils ever sold at auction have all been sold within the past six years. They include Stan, a T. rex skeleton sold by Christie's for $31.8 million in 2020. The current auction record belongs to Apex, a Stegosaurus skeleton sold by Sotheby's in 2024 for $44.6 million.

Photo: Chat GPT