Dinosaur Skeleton Pieced Together From Several Pieces – Lawyer
Talk about rising from the dead.
The story of a Tyrannosaurus Bataar skeleton allegedly looted from Mongolia and seized by the federal government following an auction in New York earlier this year continues to get stranger.
The nearly complete skeleton of the dinosaur, which roamed parts of Asia 70 million years ago, was actually cobbled together from several of the beasts, not just one reptile, said a lawyer representing a “commercial paleontologist” who had sought to sell the skeleton.
At a hearing in Manhattan federal court Wednesday, Michael McCullough, a lawyer for Florida businessman and commercial paleontologist Eric Prokopi, said about 75% of the display piece, i.e. the skeleton, is made up of “organic, fossilized material.” The rest is plastic molds of other fossil specimens, he said.
Of the actual fossils used, only half came from a single Bataar, which Mr. Prokopi imported to the U.S. in four shipments, Mr. McCullough said. (The skeleton is 24 feet long and, when assembled, stands eight feet high.)
The news that the skeleton was made up of several dinosaurs was a surprise to U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel, who is overseeing the case.
“Now I’m finding out it’s kind of a Frankenstein model based on several creatures,” the judge said Wednesday.
In their lawsuit, federal prosecutors claim the value, country of origin and contents of the shipments were misstated. Prosecutors also claim that the government of Mongolia has barred the non-state ownership of items of cultural signficance since 1924–nearly 12 years before the first Bataar fossils were discovered.
Mr. Prokopi is seeking to dismiss the government’s lawsuit and recoup his investment in piecing together the skeleton, which sold at auction for more than $1 million in May pending the outcome of any court proceedings on behalf of the Mongolian government, which is seeking the skeleton’s return.
The story of a Tyrannosaurus Bataar skeleton allegedly looted from Mongolia and seized by the federal government following an auction in New York earlier this year continues to get stranger.
The nearly complete skeleton of the dinosaur, which roamed parts of Asia 70 million years ago, was actually cobbled together from several of the beasts, not just one reptile, said a lawyer representing a “commercial paleontologist” who had sought to sell the skeleton.
At a hearing in Manhattan federal court Wednesday, Michael McCullough, a lawyer for Florida businessman and commercial paleontologist Eric Prokopi, said about 75% of the display piece, i.e. the skeleton, is made up of “organic, fossilized material.” The rest is plastic molds of other fossil specimens, he said.
Of the actual fossils used, only half came from a single Bataar, which Mr. Prokopi imported to the U.S. in four shipments, Mr. McCullough said. (The skeleton is 24 feet long and, when assembled, stands eight feet high.)
The news that the skeleton was made up of several dinosaurs was a surprise to U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel, who is overseeing the case.
“Now I’m finding out it’s kind of a Frankenstein model based on several creatures,” the judge said Wednesday.
In their lawsuit, federal prosecutors claim the value, country of origin and contents of the shipments were misstated. Prosecutors also claim that the government of Mongolia has barred the non-state ownership of items of cultural signficance since 1924–nearly 12 years before the first Bataar fossils were discovered.
Mr. Prokopi is seeking to dismiss the government’s lawsuit and recoup his investment in piecing together the skeleton, which sold at auction for more than $1 million in May pending the outcome of any court proceedings on behalf of the Mongolian government, which is seeking the skeleton’s return.
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