The only Gorgosaurus skeleton that has ever been made available for private ownership sold for more than $6 million yesterday, and scientists are angry.
The new owner of the 77-million-year-old fossil would get to name it, but they are currently unknown. Only about a dozen Gorgosaurus skulls and a few partial skeletons have been found.
The Gorgosaurus was a great hunter and had the same characteristics as the rex. Paleontologists say it would be a waste if the new owner of the Gorgosaurus didn't keep their research and data.
Thomas Carr, a paleontologist at Carthage College who studies tyrannosauroids, told the NY Times yesterday that he was disgusted and disappointed by the loss of the fossils. This is not good.
This isn't the first time the paleontological community has protested over a dinosaur skeleton.
The T-rex was auctioned off for $8.36 million in 1997. It was the largest amount of money anyone had ever paid for a fossil and some thought it would ruin the industry forever. SUE's official account uses they/them pronouns because they don't know their genders.
The most expensive fossil and T-rex skeleton to ever be sold was in 2020. In March this year, it was announced that Stan would be the centerpiece of a new natural history museum in Abu Dhabi and that his legacy would be for the public. The Black Hills Institute of Geological Research was founded by a private paleontologist who excavated SUE and Stan.
45 miles from the Canadian border is where the Gorgosaurus was found. The fossil would have been on public property if it had been in Canada.
It's likely the US' culture of dogfighting wouldn't have led us to where we are now.
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