Auctioned Tyrannosaur Skeleton Possibly Smuggled

Auctioned Tyrannosaur Skeleton Possibly Smuggled

A fossilized dinosaur that was once at the top of its food chain is now caught in the jaws of a legal battle over whether or not its remains can be sold in the United States.The anonymous buyer who bid $1.1 million for the towering specimen Sunday (May 20) in New York will not receive it if the courts decide it is the rightful property of Mongolia.The president of Mongolia says the skeleton, which stands 8 feet tall and 24 feet long (2.4 by 7.3 meters), was almost certainly taken illegally out of his country. American and Mongolian paleontologists have supported President Elbegdorj Tsakhia's claim that this dinosaur, a species sometimes called Tyrannosaurus bataar, is from Mongolia, where these close relatives of the North American Tyrannosaurus rex are found. [Up For Auction: A Natural History Gallery]&nbsp