Dinosaur skeleton Jodi sells for $47.3 million at New York auction

A dinosaur skeleton sold for $47.3 million at Sotheby's in New York on 27 October 2026, far above its estimated price of $6 to $9 million. The skeleton belongs to a Nanotyrannus, a dinosaur that scientists long thought was a young Tyrannosaurus rex. Research published in 2025 confirmed it is actually a separate species. The skeleton, nicknamed "Jodi" after the person who found it in 2019, stands nearly ten feet tall and is almost twenty feet long. It is one of only three fairly complete Nanotyrannus skeletons known. The sale made it the second most expensive dinosaur fossil ever sold at auction. The buyer has not been named. Some scientists worry that important fossils like this one will become unavailable for research when they enter private ownership.