Gus was valued at $30 million ahead of a July 2026 auction at Sotheby’s in New York, but most experts believed the final price would be more. The fossil eventually fetched a staggering $50.1 million (£37.3m), with an anonymous phone bidder securing the artefact and pushing Gus into the record books.

Fossil experts have voiced concern that the record sale could start a frenzy of fossil collecting by the super-rich, pushing scientifically valuable dinosaurs beyond the reach of palaeontologists. At this point, it’s unclear if Gus’ new owner plans to make him available to scientists and the public.

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