Sale of multimillion-dollar T rex skeleton is big headache for scientists

‘Gus’, a 3.8-metre-tall Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, at Sotheby's in New York. Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen ‘Gus’, a 3.8-metre-tall Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, at Sotheby's in New York. Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images Sale of multimillion-dollar T rex skeleton is big headache for scientists Palaeontologists warn before auction at Sotheby’s in New York that super-rich collectors are harming research With its dagger-like teeth, bone-crushing bite and behemothic size, the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex ruled western North America during the late Cretaceous period. Now its fossilised remains are about to dominate the auction house, with a price tag to terrify punters. On Tuesday, one of the largest and most complete T rex skeletons discovered to date is to be auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York with an estimated sale price of $20m-$30m (£15m-£22.4m). It could even fetch more: a stegosaurus called Apex currently holds the record, selling at a Sotheby’s auction in 2024 for $44.6m – 11 times its listing price . Nicknamed “Gus”, the T rex is thought to be about 67m years old, and stands – ready mounted in a predatory pose – at about 3.8 metres (12.5ft) tall. “The huge teeth are displayed within the gaping jaws,” the auction listing notes. Thought to be the remains of a large, robust adult, it was discovered – and excavated over a three-year period from 2021 – on a ranch in Harding County, South Dakota, by the commercial outfit Theropoda Expeditions, with permission from the owner of the land, Gary “Gus” Licking. Cole Jacobs, a field prospector for the company, said in a promotional video from Sotheby’s: “I straddled the road, walked up, and it was the very first thing I laid eyes on on the first day. I saw the metatarsal poking out of the ground.” The cheery name of the T rex is a nod to Licking, who died before the excavation was finished. While Gus is undoubtedly a huge find, he also represents a big problem – at least for scientists. “The current trend towards dinosaur fossils being marketed and sold like rare artworks at vast prices by auction houses is very concerning, as is the idea of buying dinosaur fossils as a status symbol or a commodity,” said Prof Richard Butler, a vertebrate palaeontologist at the University of Birmingham. “A fossil not in a recognised museum collection cannot be studied and is therefore lost to research. Fossils have been bought and sold for hundreds of years, but prices are increasingly out of the reach of museums, much to the detriment of science.” Prof Stephen Brusatte, of the University of Edinburgh, agreed. “As this dinosaur was found in the USA, and in America you can do what you want with what you find on your land, the auction looks to be legal. But as a scientist it still concerns me,” he said. In some countries, such as Brazil or Mongolia, all fossils belong to the state. “If a dinosaur like this fetches tens of millions of dollars at auction, then there’s little th