December 8, 2025, 7:17 p.mDecember 8, 2025, 7:17 p.m
France has returned the skeleton of a large carnivorous dinosaur that criminals smuggled out of Mongolia around ten years ago. It is the skeleton of a two-legged Tarbosaurus Bataar, which could be ten to twelve meters long. This species once hunted other large dinosaurs in floodplains in what is now Mongolia and parts of China.
French customs confiscated the dinosaur skeleton and another 217 fossils from Mongolia in 2015. All finds with an estimated value of around six million euros were returned to Mongolia.
Parts of the skeleton returned to Mongolia.Image: www.imago-images.de
“With today’s return to Mongolia of this extraordinary skeleton of a Tarbosaurus Bataar and more than two hundred fossils confiscated by our services, France is concretely demonstrating its commitment to combating the illegal trade in cultural goods,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. The skeleton came from illegal excavations in the Gobi Desert and was then illegally smuggled to France via South Korea.
Tarbosaurus is considered the Asian cousin of Tyrannosaurus. Like this one, it had a large skull and very small arms. (sda/dpa)