Gorgosaurus: Ancient dinosaur skeleton sells for $6m at auction - BBC News

A rare ancient dinosaur skeleton has been sold in the US to an unknown buyer for just over $6m (£5m).

It was offered up by Sotheby’s and sold at the firm’s natural history auction in New York City on Thursday.

The fossil is that of a Gorgosaurus - a distant relative of the infamous and deadly Tyrannosaurus rex - that was discovered in 2018.

The anonymous buyer will have the unique opportunity to bestow a nickname on the one-time apex predator.

The sale is the second-ever of a fossilised dinosaur skeleton auctioned by Sotheby’s. The first, a T-rex nicknamed Sue, was sold to Chicago’s Field Museum in 1997 for $8.36m. …

…  The fossil was discovered on private land in the US state of Montana. It has 79 bone elements, stands 10ft (3m) tall and is 22ft long.  …