Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum. Here in June, the remains of
Speaker 1: what was believed to be an Alisaurus were sold to
Speaker 1: the highest bidder for over two million dollars at the
Speaker 1: Augot auction house in Paris, France. Nearly thirty ft or
Speaker 1: nine meters long and complete, it's valuable in more ways
Speaker 1: than one. Like all fossils, these bones are ambassadors from
Speaker 1: an earlier time. The creature they belonged to drew its
Speaker 1: last breath in Wyoming a hundred and fifty million years ago.
Speaker 1: It was a different world back then. Earth was considerably warmer,
Speaker 1: and most mammals were rabbit sized or smaller. Auction houses no,
Speaker 1: there are plenty of buyers who will pay top dollar
Speaker 1: to own a rare and scientifically significant piece of prehistory.
Speaker 1: Agot sold the skeleton of another meat eating dino for
Speaker 1: three point two million dollars in and has fetched over
Speaker 1: six hundred and forty thousand for a complete William Myth,
Speaker 1: and those sums look like pocket change next to the
Speaker 1: eight point three six million that the Chicago Field Museum
Speaker 1: and several corporate partners paid back in for sue the
Speaker 1: most complete Tyrrenosaurs rex ever found. But wait a minute,
Speaker 1: how does one come to own a fossil that you
Speaker 1: can sell to the highest bidder? We spoke with P.
Speaker 1: David Pauli, a professor of geology at Indiana University and
Speaker 1: past president of the International Society for Vertebrate Paleontology. He
Speaker 1: explained that laws vary from country to country, but in
Speaker 1: the United States, fossils that are discovered on federal land
Speaker 1: are considered public property quote they're held in trust on
Speaker 1: our behalf by the US federal government. The Paleontological Resources
Speaker 1: Prevention Act, which was passed by Congress in two thousand nine,
Speaker 1: stipulates that scientifically important fossils can only be collected with
Speaker 1: a scientific permit and must be placed in an approved repository,
Speaker 1: that is, a research collection of a museum or university,
Speaker 1: where they will be available to scientists and other interested people.
Speaker 1: Note here that Native American land is exempted according to
Speaker 1: the Federal Register. Fossil collecting on this soil falls under
Speaker 1: the jurisdiction of tribal authorities, and the Act is a
Speaker 1: bit more lenient when it comes to common plant and
Speaker 1: invertebrate fossils like trilobites. Private citizens are allowed to collect
Speaker 1: those for personal use in reasonable quantities on federal land
Speaker 1: without a permit. However, any fossils taken from federally owned
Speaker 1: rock may not be bartered or sold later. Note that
Speaker 1: special rules may apply to certain remains in locations. For example,
Speaker 1: it's a misdemeanor to collect petrified wood in Arizona's Petrified
Speaker 1: Forest National Park. If you've got any questions about the
Speaker 1: rules in your area, you should get in touch with
Speaker 1: the closest Bureau of Land Management office. Polly noted. Some
Speaker 1: US states, such as Wyoming in California, have similar laws
Speaker 1: protecting fossils on state lands, but across the country, fossils
Speaker 1: discovered on private property belong to the landowner. This isn't
Speaker 1: true around the world. In countries like Mongolia, dinosaur fossils
Speaker 1: are considered to be part of the nation's shared cultural heritage,
Speaker 1: regardless of where they're found. As such, they can't be
Speaker 1: sold in private markets, and personal ownership of these remains
Speaker 1: is against the law. Actor Nicholas Cage of all people
Speaker 1: now knows a thing or two about Mongolia's strict fossil laws.
Speaker 1: In two thousand seven, the skull of an Asian tyrannosaur
Speaker 1: went up for auction. Cage bought it for two hundred
Speaker 1: seventy six thousand dollars, outbidding fellow movie star Leonardo DiCaprio
Speaker 1: when he learned that the fossil had been illegally poached
Speaker 1: from Mongolia, though Cage agreed to repatriate it back to
Speaker 1: its native land. But if you, as a resident of
Speaker 1: the United States, find the remains of a dinosaur on
Speaker 1: American real estate that you own, you can legally keep it,
Speaker 1: sell it, or export it. The question is should you
Speaker 1: that carnivorous dino that changed hands in Rris was excavated
Speaker 1: from private land between Upon learning that a goot plan
Speaker 1: to auction it off, the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology wrote
Speaker 1: an open letter begging the organization to cancel the sale.
Speaker 1: A goot sold it anyway. The buyer's identity wasn't made public,
Speaker 1: but they stated that the bones would be loaned out
Speaker 1: to a museum at some point so that researchers would
Speaker 1: get the chance to study them, and they followed up
Speaker 1: on that promise. As of May nineteen, the Royal Belgian
Speaker 1: Institute of Natural Sciences and Brussels premiered the specimen, which
Speaker 1: they studied and determined to be a new Alosaurus species
Speaker 1: that they've named Arcane. That follow through is a huge relief.
Speaker 1: Peer review is an important facet of paleontology. If one
Speaker 1: dinosaur expert writes something about a particular fossil, their colleagues
Speaker 1: need to be able to go back and inspect the
Speaker 1: specimen for themselves. Doing so requires guaranteed access to the remains,
Speaker 1: something private fossil owners may choose to with hold, and
Speaker 1: geological context is another thing to consider. The rock in
Speaker 1: which a fossil is found is just as important as
Speaker 1: the fossil itself. To figure out how old a specimen
Speaker 1: is or what its environment looked like, we need to
Speaker 1: know exactly where it came from. Private fossil buyers might
Speaker 1: be unable to provide this information. Then there's the small
Speaker 1: matter of museum budgets. Universities and public museums frequently can't
Speaker 1: afford to meet some of the high prices that have
Speaker 1: been set by auctioneers and fossil dealers. In the wake
Speaker 1: of Sue's blockbuster sale, Polly said almost everybody has gotten
Speaker 1: excited at one time or another about the massive dinosaurs
Speaker 1: that once walked the earth. That inspiration comes directly from
Speaker 1: the fact that many of them were carefully excavated, placed
Speaker 1: in public trust repositories, and become part of the scientific record. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: that same excitement can make people want to have one
Speaker 1: of their own. It is true that fossil sales people
Speaker 1: have made some major contributions to paleontology. Just look at
Speaker 1: Mary Anning, an English seller of priest org treasures, who
Speaker 1: discovered extinct marine reptiles like please a Saurus. Regardless, Polly
Speaker 1: and many of his fellow scientists worry that countries that
Speaker 1: don't commit to putting their important fossils in public trust
Speaker 1: where anyone can study them are forfeiting a gold mine
Speaker 1: of knowledge. He said, fossils are not like works of art.
Speaker 1: They weren't created to be high priced collector's items. They're
Speaker 1: rare remnants of our past that are important to us all.
Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Mark Mancini and produced by
Speaker 1: Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other
Speaker 1: topics that really dig in, visit how Stuff works dot Com.
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