Rare Nanotyrannus skeleton found in 2019 heads to auction for $9 million

A skeleton that looks like a small Tyrannosaurus rex is now standing in a Manhattan lobby, waiting for bidders. It was unearthed in 2019 by a Montana rancher, and scientists have since confirmed it belongs to a different predator altogether, the Nanotyrannus. That confirmation ended a debate that had lasted for decades, and it has turned an unusual find into a headline lot. Its sale touches on a wider question, who should be able to dig up dinosaurs? Learn how it was found, how it differs from its famous cousin, and why scientists disagree about selling it.How Montana rancher Jodi Pierson discovered the Nanotyrannus skeleton on her land near a famous earlier findThe skeleton is nicknamed Jodi after Jodi Pierson, the rancher who found it on her land. Its discovery and excavation were the focus of the Discovery Channel documentary series "Dino Hunters" in 2020. The location is notable; the fossil lay some 8 miles (13 kilometres) from the site where the so-called Dueling Dinosaurs fossil was unearthed in 2006. That earlier find depicts a Nanotyrannus and a Triceratops together, which means one small stretch of Montana has produced two of the very few known skeletons of this predator.W...