Rare dinosaur skeleton goes to auction in New York with £4.5m price tag
A rare dinosaur skeleton, identified as a Nanotyrannus and nicknamed 'Jodi', is set to be auctioned by Sotheby's in New York with an estimated price of at least $6 million. The sale has sparked debate among scientists regarding the private ownership of paleontological specimens.
Why it matters
The auction highlights the ongoing tension between the commercialization of scientific artifacts and the preservation of natural history for public research.
Image source, Reuters By Angus Thompson Published 51 minutes ago The mounted skeleton of a newly-identified dinosaur once mistaken for a young Tyrannosaurus rex is up for auction - with a price-tag of at least $6m (£4.5m).
Nicknamed "Jodi", the roughly 10-foot-tall (3m) skeleton will be auctioned by Sotheby's in New York. The sale comes a year after researchers confirmed that the skeleton belongs to a distinct genus.
The Late Cretaceous carnivore is expected to fetch up to $9m when it goes under the hammer on Tuesday. The auction comes after Sotheby's sold a Tyrannosaurus rex, dubbed "Gus", for a record $50.1m (£37.4m) in July.
The sales comes as some in the scientific community debate whether dinosaur remains should be sold privately.
Sotheby's described "Jodi" as an "excellent exhibition-ready" skeleton with about 191 fossil-bone elements and a "beautifully preserved, virtually complete skull".
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