Kristen Rogers and Yenny Sanchez, CNN
The ancient skeleton of a Gorgosaurus went to auction for the first time today and sold for just over $6 million. Whoever bought it, which is currently unknown, now also has the unusual opportunity to name it.
About 77 million years old, the Gorgosaurus is a relative of the deadly Tyrannosaurus rex, but faster and with a stronger bite force, according to Sotheby’s, which is organizing the sale. Sotheby’s offered the Gorgosaurus as the highlight of its Natural History auction that began today at 10:00 a.m. ET. The rare fossil was expected to attract bids of up to $8 million, according to the auction house.
The fossil was discovered in 2018 on private land in the Judith River Formation in Montana’s Choteau County and has 79 bone elements, according to Sotheby’s. All other known Gorgosaurus skeletons are in museum collections, making this the only specimen of its kind offered for private ownership, which some scientists consider problematic for scientific study .
“In my career, I’ve had the privilege of handling and selling many exceptional and unique objects, but few have the ability to inspire wonder and capture imaginations like this incredible Gorgosaurus skeleton,” Cassandra Hatton, Global Head of Science and Popular Culture from Sotheby’s. , he said in a press release.
“Excavated only a few years ago, a Gorgosaurus has never before been offered at auction, and the opportunity to share this dinosaur with the public for the first time is an immense pleasure and a career highlight.”
Just over 9 feet (2.8 meters) tall and 22 feet (6.7 meters) long, Gorgosaurus was an apex carnivore that resided in the United States and Canada during the late Cretaceous period. Like T. rex, Gorgosaurus is a large theropod and has similar features, including a huge head with dozens of sharp, curved teeth and two small front limbs.
“As the master hunter of its time, when it was believed to have hunted in packs of four, Gorgosaurus was a commanding force and a singular predator,” according to Sotheby’s. The dinosaur’s name derives from the Greek words for “fierce lizard”.
Fossil auctions and ethics
The Gorgosaurus sale is Sotheby’s second sale of a fossilized dinosaur skeleton. In 1997, the auction house sold the T. rex fossil nicknamed Sue, one of the largest and most complete dinosaur fossils ever found, to the Field Museum in Chicago for $8.36 million. The specimen was named after collector Sue Hendrickson, who discovered the significant find. Excavated in South Dakota, Sue was the most valuable fossil ever sold at auction at the time.
Sue’s auction was also controversial and, at the time, the latest example of a new challenge to fossil resource management: John W. Hoganson, paleontologist emeritus of the North Dakota Geological Survey, wrote in an edition of 1998 of the survey bulletin. of the potential impact on scientific progress of a “thriving international market for fossils and the consequent collection and sale of fossils by exploiters”.
“The T. rex auction was anxiously anticipated by the professional paleontology community because of uncertainty over whether the important specimen would end up in a private collection, so it was unavailable for scientific study and display public, or in a public depository of that country”. He wrote “The final concern was the effect the sale would have on the science of paleontology.”
During Hoganson’s tenure, he established the North Dakota State Fossil Collection and participated in the creation of a federal law to protect fossil resources on U.S. federal lands, according to the Govt. state
Stan, the world’s most complete T-Rex skeleton, set a new world record in 2020 when it sold for $31.8 million at Christie’s. At the time of the sale, paleontologists feared the fossil would be lost to science, but in March Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism revealed plans for Stan to be a star attraction at a new history museum natural, which is expected to open in 2025 in Abu. Dhabi, as CNN previously reported.
With Sue still on public display at the Field Museum, Stan hoping for a permanent home, and the Gorgosaurus sold, some scientists aren’t happy to see this trend continue.
“In my own opinion, there are only downsides,” said P. David Polly, professor and chair of the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington. “While there is certainly no law in the US that supports this for fossils that come from private land, it’s easy for me as a scientist to argue that this fossil is important to all of us and really should go to a public repository. where it can be studied, where the general public can learn and enjoy it.”
Fossils on private land belong to individuals who can do whatever they want with them, while fossils on public land are regulated by the federal government and essentially belong to the government or “the people, if you will,” Polly said. “When there’s a fossil that goes up for auction like this and it’s expected to make millions of dollars, one of the things it does is tell private landowners that the fossils on their land really should be monetized.”
Other scientific experts, however, acknowledged that museum collecting has historically included acquisitions from commercial sources.
“It makes me sad that there’s a price on dinosaurs,” but “it’s not a black or white issue,” said Gregory Erickson, a professor of vertebrate anatomy and paleobiology at Florida State University in Tallahassee. “There is a history of museums buying commercial specimens.”
“It’s a brave new world for our science,” vertebrate paleontologist Steve Brusatte, professor and staff chair of Paleontology and Evolution at the University of Edinburgh, said by email. “In a world where dinosaur skeletons number in the millions, where does that leave scientists and museums, who can’t afford such inflated prices?”
And what did Polly think would be the best result of this auction? “Let whoever sells it listen to what I just said and have a conversion experience and give it to a museum,” he said. “The next best thing would be for someone rich to hear that kind of message and give a lot of money (to a museum) so it can be bought for a museum.”
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Top image: The Gorgosaurus fossil is mounted to show how the dinosaur walked on two hind legs. Courtesy of Sotheby’s.