It is the dinosaur version of grave robbing: fossil poachers plundering a paleontological dig, frequently smashing ancient skulls and stealing valuable teeth, claws and feet.
Often, all that remain are shards of fossilized bone and a wrecked, irreplaceable scientific record. And in cases where poachers excavate an entire skeleton and spirit it away to illicit entrepreneurs or collectors, it is as if the bones, buried for millions of years, were being dug up only to be hidden away again in private collections.
"This is huge," said Catherine A. Forster, a paleontologist at George Washington University who is president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. "It isn't just one or two specimens. A fair proportion of very good fossils just disappear from knowledge, and few are ever seen again."
And while some scientists hoped that a high-profile legal case in New York last year over the $1 million sale of a rare Mongolian dinosaur would curb the illegal digging, that does not appear to have happened. Mark A. Norell, chairman of paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, said a visit to the Gobi Desert over the summer made clear that poaching continues "in a big way."
Philip J. Currie, a paleontologist at the University of Alberta, says he has determined that 98 skeletons of the dinosaur, Tarbosaurus bataar (sometimes called Tyrannosaurus bataar), were destroyed or removed by poachers in Mongolia. Fewer than a dozen are in scientific hands, he says. And he has counted many other plundered fossil skeletons from the Gobi, including 86 ostrichlike dinosaurs. (It has been illegal to remove fossils from Mongolia since the 1920s.)
Although the age of the dinosaurs lasted about 165 million years, their skeletons are relatively uncommon: only about 3,000 are known to exist. About 1,300 dinosaur species have been identified, Dr. Norell said — more than half from a single skeleton and perhaps a third from a single bone.
Paleontologists say they are not taking aim at professional fossil finders, who work within the law and dig carefully. They are calling for the patchwork of laws on dinosaur stealing and smuggling to be enforced and tightened around the world, and they are pleading with private collectors to demand proof of a fossil's origins before they buy — just as they would question the pedigree of a painting or an antique.
Otherwise, the scientists say, valuable entries in the earth's book of life will be lost forever, including information about exactly where the fossils were found, what geological formation the creatures were in, how they were lying in the ground, how they were discovered and precisely when they lived, not to mention what surrounded them at death.
"I'm saying, 'Ask for provenance,' " Dr. Norell said. "It worked in the art world, but it hasn't hit the fossil world."
The Association of Applied Paleontological Sciences, a professional group representing private commercial fossil collectors and dealers, is also encouraging its members to educate themselves and the public on the legality of the specimens.
The modern-day fossil rush began in earnest after the Field Museum in Chicago paid $8.36 million in 1997 for Sue, the most complete T. Rex skeleton ever found, said Kenshu Shimada, a professor at DePaul University in Chicago who is chairman of government affairs at the paleontology society. Shortly after, the phenomenon of online buying and selling through sites like eBay took off, opening up global markets for fossils.
Dr. Shimada said the society became so concerned about the extent of the illegal dinosaur trade that it made a survey of "paleo hot spots," gathering information from 20 countries about where fossils are, what laws govern them and how the laws are enforced.
Dr. Currie said the Nemegt Basin, in the Gobi Desert, is a particular concern. It is one of the two best dinosaur sites on the planet, he said, with a diverse range of fossils and thousands of footprints. The 70-million-year-old T. Bataar, for example, was an Asian relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex, and was one of the last dinosaurs to evolve, one of the most sophisticated and one of the most dangerous — yet much of its life cycle remains unknown.
"One of the most spectacular sites for understanding dinosaurs in the world is now being destroyed by poachers," Dr. Currie said.
The dream, he said, is to explore the basin as an ancient ecosystem, learning how dinosaurs interacted with one another and their environment. Many puzzles remain. For example, scientists would expect to find far more plant-eating dinosaurs than meat eaters in one layer of the basin, yet the remains of carnivores predominate. Why?
While the Mongolian government's successful lawsuit over the T. Bataar skeleton did not end poaching, it has had other effects. The sale was voided, and the smuggler, Eric Prokopi, a fossil dealer from Gainesville, Fla., pleaded guilty in a criminal proceeding and awaits sentencing. The skeleton was returned to Mongolia in May.
As a result, the country has set up its first dinosaur museum, in the capital, Ulan Bator, with the repatriated skeleton as the starring attraction, said Minjin Bolortsetseg, director of the Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs. Twenty-two more Mongolian fossils are due to be repatriated soon.
But Dr. Bolortsetseg said that until the Mongolian government protects fossil sites, involves local governments in policing them and educates the public about the historical value of the fossils, the looting is unlikely to stop.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: October 24, 2013
An article on Tuesday about the plundering of dinosaur fossil sites included an outdated affiliation for a paleontologist who commented on a skeleton illegally taken from Mongolia and later returned. The scientist, Minjin Bolortsetseg, is director of the Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs; she is no longer chief paleontologist at the country's dinosaur museum.
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