A rare dinosaur skeleton finally made its way home after being illegally smuggled out of Mongolia two decades ago. After years of effort, officials said a Tarbosaurus bataar skeleton and dozens of other fossils smuggled abroad are back in the country, closing a long-running case in the growing fight against the illegal fossil trade, Dawn reported.
What happened?
Among the items returned was a mostly intact skeleton of a Tarbosaurus bataar as well as 28 groups of dinosaur fossils found in Mongolia's Gobi Desert.
The Tarbosaurus bataar, which lived roughly 70 million years ago, is often thought of as the Tyrannosaurus rex's Asian counterpart.
The fossils had been intercepted by French customs agencies over a decade ago, yet it took this long for some of them to be returned home, per Dawn.
Now in the capital of Ulaanbaatar, the fossils are expected to be housed at Mongolia's new National Museum of Natural History.
Why does it matter?
Fossil smuggling is not just about stolen objects. It can deprive countries and researchers of scientific context that cannot be recreated once remains are removed from the place where they were found.
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When fossils are excavated and sold into private hands, critical information about the surrounding rock, other species that lived at the time, and more can be lost forever. Tarbosaurus bataar is so closely tied to Mongolia that the skeleton is part of the country's natural history as well as a major scientific resource.
Its appearance in a public museum means researchers, students, and visitors may be able to study it. The recovery took years and required cooperation across borders, but Mongolian authorities were able to bring the fossils back.
"The dinosaur fossil is priceless and a unique piece of heritage," museum director Manchuk Nuramkhan said at a news conference.
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