France has returned a 70-million-year-old dinosaur skeleton to Mongolia after discovering it had been taken illegally from the Gobi Desert.
The fossil belonged to a Tarbosaurus bataar, a huge meat-eating dinosaur closely related to the famous Tyrannosaurus rex.
French customs officers seized the skeleton in 2015, and after years of investigation, the country decided it should go back home.
Tarbosaurus bataar lived during the Cretaceous period and disappeared some 65 million years ago, and there have been no specimens of T.bataar discovered outside of Asia.
The handover took place at a special ceremony in Paris. France's Public Accounts Minister Amelie de Montchalin gave the fossil - along with about 30 other items, including dinosaur eggs -to Mongolia's culture and sports minister.
De Montchalin said that after a long investigation, "a piece of the Gobi Desert is about to return to its homeland," describing it as a "scientific and cultural treasure".
The fossil had been looted (taken without permission) from Mongolia's Gobi Desert before being transported through South Korea and ending up in France.
When it was discovered, Sophie Hocquerelle from French customs described it as "an exceptional discovery".
She explained: "This is an entire Tarbosaurus, estimated at around 700,000 euros when it was seized, but since then the market has exploded, so we could say it is worth two to three times that amount today."
For Mongolia, the return of the fossil is extremely important.
Mongolia considers all fossils found in the Gobi Desert to be government property, and exporting them without permission is illegal.
The country's government is now trying to reclaim lost relics, hoping to bring home fossils long held in foreign museums and with private collectors.
Mongolia's culture and sports minister, Undram Chinbat, said: "For me and for all the Mongolian people, it's very important to have our dinosaur fossils back," while thanking France for helping protect their natural history.
Once back in Mongolia the fossils will be studied and restored, and they will eventually be displayed in a new museum the country is planning to open.

Published Date:2025-12-19