I know the current trend when discussing something superannuated is to compare them to Keith Richards, but Keith is not even 80 yet, won't be until next year, and so he can hardly compare in birthday candles to Gorgosaurus, a relative of T. Rex who lived in Montana 76 million years ago.
Many of us know Gorgo from the 1961 film of the same name in which some explorers find a gigantic sea creature and, of course, move him to London (what else would you do with such a beast?) But the monster's mom is enraged to find that her child is being put on exhibit by Dorkin's Circus in Londontowne, so she sets out to bring him home. This Oedipal angle works out well; young Gorgo is pleased that Mommy came to bring him home. Eventually, leaving London and several naval vessels destroyed, the two monsters go home.
Speaking of finding homes...this fossil skeleton of a T. Rex (10 million years older, but who's counting?) is looking for new digs, and if you can pony up 5 to 8 million dollars, he can come home with you. You'll need a room to hold a critter 10 feet tall and 22 feet long, so maybe you could clear out that room with the old magazines and VCR tapes.
He's up for grabs, so to speak, at today's Sotheby natural history auction.
He was found in 2018 in the Judith River Formation, which is a place for relics of the Cretaceous Era near Havre, Montana.
All the other Gorgosaurus skeletons live in museums, so if you're interested, today is your lucky day.
I'll be spending my day wondering what people 76,000,000 years from now will think of us when they dig up our skeletons, our cell phones, and the remains of our chicken boxes. Will they know of hot sauce?
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