The skeleton of a dinosaur from 77 million years ago, up for auction in the US

The complete skeleton of a Gorgosaurus, a dinosaur about 3 meters high and more than 6 long, which lived 77 million years ago, will be auctioned this month in New York by Sotheby’s, which hopes to raise between 5 and 8 million dollars per piece.

The skeleton of this carnivore of the tyrannosaurid family that walked the Earth during the Late Cretaceous was found in 2018 in the state of Montana (northwestern United States) and is the only one of its kind available for private collectors, since the rest of the specimens are in different museums and institutions.

Sotheby’s, in a statement released this Tuesday, assures that it is one of the most valuable dinosaur skeletons that comes to market and will be the centerpiece of the natural history auction that the company will carry out on July 28.

Gorgosaurus was a close relative of the more well-known Tyrannosaurus Rex and, although smaller in size, it shared many features such as its large head, curved teeth, and small forelimbs.

An adult male typically weighed up to 2 tons, and some paleontologists speculate that Gorgosaurus was even fiercer and had a stronger jaw than Tyrannosaurus Rex, Sotheby’s notes.

The specimen for sale was, at the time of its death, a large adult and its skull is particularly well preserved, according to the auction house, which highlights the “immaculate” condition of the skeleton thanks to the characteristics of the ecosystem where it was found. excavated this fossil.

The skeleton will be on public view from July 21 at Sotheby’s New York gallery.

The auction house has a long history of selling dinosaur fossils and in 1997 it was the first to offer a complete skeleton, the famous Tyrannosaurus Rex known as “Sue”, which sold for $8.36 million and can be seen at the Field Museum in Chicago.

Source-listindiario.com