The U.S government has thrown its support behind Mongolia's plea to have a 70 million year old T-Rex skeleton returned to the country where it was unearthed.
The 75% complete Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton was recently auctioned off in New York by Heritage Auctions to an unknown buyer for the tyrannosaurus-sized sum of $1 million.
Transfer of ownership to the unknown buyer was blocked by a State District judge in Dallas upon request by the Mongolian government however, until it could be determined whether the T-Rex had been illegally looted from Mongolia. Mongolia has had laws in place for 90 years claiming all dinosaur fossils excavated in the country to be property of the government.
To that end, several paleontologists examined the skeleton earlier this month, and determined that it had indeed been excavated from Mongolia's Gobi Desert sometime between 1995 and 2005, and not Great Britain, as was originally claimed on the custom documents when the T-Rex was first brought into the U.S (and where Tyrannosaurus bataar skeletons have never been excavated).
"The skeletal remains of this dinosaur are of tremendous cultural and historic significance to the people of Mongolia, and provide a connection to the country's prehistoric past," said Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a statement. "When the skeleton was allegedly looted, a piece of the country's natural history was stolen with it, and we look forward to returning it to its rightful place."
The man who imported the skeleton from Great Britain, Eric Prokopi remained defiant in the face of the evidence against him that documents were falsified and his actions disreputable.
"I can wholeheartedly say the import documents are not fraudulent, a truth I am confident will be brought to light in the coming weeks," he said. In an e-mailed statement to the Wall Street Journal, he added: "My reaction to the government driving away with my dinosaur in a large white truck is the reaction I imagine Indiana Jones had to the ark being put into storage at the end of his film."
The skeleton has now been seized by the Department of Homeland Security, and sits in a government warehouse until it can be shipped back to Mongolia.
"We are one step closer to bringing this rare Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton back home to the people of Mongolia," Mongolia President Elbegdorj Tsakhia said in a statement.
