Stay up to date with notifications from The IndependentNotifications can be managed in browser preferences.Jump to contentThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inAllNewsSportCultureLifestyleA Tyrannosaurus rex fossil, nicknamed "Gus," was sold for an unprecedented $50.1 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York. This 67-million-year-old skeleton is now the most expensive set of dinosaur bones ever sold, surpassing previous records held by a stegosaurus and another T. rex. "Gus" is billed one of the world's largest and most complete specimens, standing 12 ½ feet tall and 38 feet long, and is approximately 63 per cent complete. Discovered in South Dakota in 2021, the fossil was named in honor of property owner, Gary Licking, who passed away during the excavation and restoration process. The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology has said that scientifically significant fossils like "Gus" should be publicly displayed in museums and other research institutions so that they can be “preserved, documented, and accessible for future generations.”In full‘Gus’ the T. rex becomes most expensive dinosaur fossil ever sold for $50MMore bulletinsThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in

Private buyers are increasingly outbidding museums for fossils. That’s making it difficult—or even impossible—for researchers to improve our understanding of the past.

A Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton from South Dakota, nicknamed Gus, has become the world’s most expensive fossil sold at auction.