A dinosaur skeleton auctioned in May
had been taken out of Mongolia, most likely within the past 10 years, American
and Mongolian paleontologists have concluded, which would mean the specimen was
removed illegally.

“We have pulled a lot of them
out of the ground and seen a lot of others come out of the ground, and in our
professional opinion it is from Mongolia,” said Mark Norell, a
paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History who began working in
the Central Asian country in 1990.

Norell and fellow investigator
Philip Currie, a paleontologist at the University of Alberta, first announced
their findings to reporters on Wed., June 6. Two Mongolian paleontologists also
assessed the fossils and came to the same conclusion.

It is not yet clear how this
conclusion will affect the sale of the specimen, the 75 percent complete skeleton
of a type of tyrannosaur called Tarbosaurus that was sold May 20 to an
anonymous bidder for $1.1 million on condition that the sale receive court
approval.

“I have no doubt that the Tarbasaurus
bataar will be returned to Mongolia,” said Puntsag Tsagaan, senior
adviser to Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia, following the investigators”
conclusions.

The return of the specimen, which is
an Asian relative of the North American Tyrannosaurus rex, not only would be a sign of good
relations between the United States and Mongolia, but would send a strong
message to the “bad guys, those who illegally excavate fossils and sell
them on the black market,” Tsagaan said. Under Mongolian law, dinosaur
fossils excavated within the country”s borders are state property.

Heritage Auctions, which handled the
sale, has cooperated with the Mongolian investigation into its origins. On
Wednesday the auction house gave paleontologists and representatives of the
Mongolian government access to the facility in the borough of Queens where the Tarbosaurus
was being stored.

Jim Halperin, co-chairman and
co-founder of Heritage Auctions, said in a statement, “It would be
premature for us to comment on a paleontological opinion we have neither seen
nor had time to study.

“Heritage will continue to
assist the ongoing efforts to achieve a fair and amicable resolution,” he
added.

The whitish to beige color of the
fossils and 12 specific characteristics of the bones made it clear they
belonged to a Mongolian Tarbosaurus, said Tsogbaatar Khishigijav, head
of the Paleontological Laboratory and Museum at the Mongolian Academy of
Sciences.

The skeleton”s identity seemed to
ascertain its origin; Tarbosaurus bataar remains have been found only in
the Nemegt Formation
in Mongolia”s portion of the Gobi Desert.

Not only did the characteristic
light color of the bones point to a Mongolian origin, so did the reddish
material in their cracks and fissures, material from their excavation site,
said Currie, a paleontologist who studies Tarbosaurus and other tyrannosaurs.

The Tarbosaurus” stubby arm
length was among the characteristics that made its identify clear, Currie said.

“The arms of Tyrannosaurus
rex are famous because they are short,” he said. “In Tarbosaurus
they are much shorter.”

The conclusion did not come as a surprise;
Currie and Norell were among the paleontologists who previously voiced support
for the Mongolian claim
that the bones had been smuggled out of the country.

The poaching of fossils in Mongolia
has intensified over the years, paleontologists say.

Based on his examination of the
bones and his own experience in Mongolia, Currie said he believes the specimen
was the subject of two rounds of poaching.

Unskilled poachers often will take
the teeth and the claws off a specimen, leaving or destroying the rest, he
said. This Tarbosaurus is missing most of its claws and teeth.

The rest of the specimen was removed
by excavators with more skill, but even so, the job was not well done, Currie
said.

“There is a lot of restoration
done on the bones to make them look good, but when you look closely at it you
can see there is a lot of plaster restoration towards the ends of the bone, a
lot of the processes [protrusions] are broken or chipped off and gone,”
Currie said.

Mongolia”s first priority is to get
the Tarbosaurus fossils returned; then it will address the problem in
general, said Tsagaan said – possibly through domestic legislation or use of
its own agencies and cooperation with other nations.

Other paleontologists have been
following this dinosaur”s American adventure.

“I think it”s good for this
case to come up because one of the things that happens, a lot of fossils are
being brought into this country and sold in this country and there is not too
much awareness of fossil collecting laws in other countries,” said Kirk Johnson,
chief curator and vice president for research and collections at the Denver
Museum of Nature & Science. “Mongolia owns all its fossils, not like
the U.S.,” where people can dig up fossils on their private land and own
them.

“The fact it is here means a
law was broken,” Johnson told LiveScience.

Source: LiveScience