The fossilized skeleton of a T. rex relative that roamed the earth about 76 million years ago will be auctioned off in New York this month. The Gorgosaurus skeleton will highlight Sotheby’s natural history auction on July 28.
It was an apex carnivore that lived in what is now the western United States and Canada during the Late Cretaceous period. The Gorgosaurus predated its relative the Tyrannosaurus rex by 10 million years.
The specimen being sold at Sotheby’s was discovered in 2018 in the Judith River Formation near Havre, Montana. It measures nearly 10 feet tall and 22 feet long.
It’s the only specimen of its kind currently available for private ownership and the first to be offered at auction. All other known skeletons are in museum collections, according to Southeby’s Global Head of Science and Popular Culture.
The auction house’s pre-sale estimate is between $5 million and $8 million.