In New York, a rare ancient dinosaur skeleton was sold at an auction for more than $6 million. An anonymous buyer got a unique opportunity to give a nickname to a predator, writes BBC.
The fossil belongs to a gorgosaurus, a distant relative of the tyrannosaurus. Gorgosaurus roamed the Earth about 77 million years ago, and like Tyrannosaurus, it had a large head, a mouth with curved teeth, and small forelimbs with two fingers. Although it was smaller than its cousin, it was faster, fiercer, and had a stronger bite meant for cutting through thick skin and penetrating deep into the flesh of its prey.
The fossil, discovered in 2018 on private land in Montana, consists of 79 bone elements. It is three meters high and over six meters long.
The auction also sold a tyrannosaurus tooth for over $100,000, a triceratops skull ($661,500) and a saber-toothed tiger skull.
- In November, it was reported that scientists found the first species of dinosaur that lived in Greenland 214 million years ago.
- Before that, two new species of dinosaurs were discovered in England on the Isle of Wight. Each of them were the size of a school bus.
- In the summer of 2021, scientists confirmed the discovery of a new species of dinosaur in Australia, whose remains are the largest among those found on the continent.