Dear Rich People: Stop Buying Nature

It should come as no surprise, with turtle boots and tiger pelts showing up on Craigslist, that wildlife trafficking is driving the most popular — and most fragile — species on Earth towards extinction. Trafficking is such a big business that the mob is heavily involved. And the effects of losing a halo species like a tiger to poaching are larger than the blow it would deal to conservation efforts worldwide; large mammals are incredibly important to the health of their local ecosystems. So, yeah, it’s clear that trafficking is abhorrent. But how’s this for a wrinkle: what do you do when someone sells a creature that’s already extinct?

That’s the issue facing the paleontology world right now, after Heritage Auctions sold a nearly complete Tarbosaurus bataar (an Asian relative of North America’s Tyrannosaurs rex) skeleton for $1.05 million. Despite being sold in the U.S. by the Dallas-based Heritage, Tarbosaurus has only been known to be found in Mongolia. And thus arises the issue: According to attorney Robert Painter, who represents the Mongolian government, Mongolian law “has not permitted export of this rare fossil out of Mongolia since at least 1961.” So, unless the skeleton was exported before 1961, its sale would be illegal.

No one doubts that the skeleton is T. bataar, or that it came from Mongolia. Heritage listed the skeleton as an example of T. bataar, and a press release published yesterday on Painter’s website states that a full inspection of the specimen was conducted on June 5 in New York by a group of well-respected paleontologists (including Dr. Mark Norell) with the cooperation of Heritage. Norell and Dr. Philip Currie wrote in their report that "The general appearance of the animal and the color of the bones indicate to us that this is the skull and skeleton of a Tarbosaurus bataar (also known as Tyrannosaurus bataar) from the Nemegt Formation of Mongolia."

After the Mongolian government won a temporary restraining order from a Dallas court halting the auction house from delivering the skeleton to its buyer (which would likely mean its disappearance into a private collection), the firm has since said it would offer all documents regarding the sale to the fossil’s home country. Relations between Heritage and Mongolia are cooperative, at least according to Painter, and after Heritage has pledged its support in sorting out the skeleton’s provenance, the Mongolian government has said it won’t allege that Heritage broke the terms of the court order.

So, at the moment, things seem somewhat cordial between Mongolia and Heritage, who has taken the stance of a somewhat-befuddled company trying to sort out the history of an artifact it thought it could sell. That’s a change from the more defiant tone Heritage took before and immediately after the auction, when the auction house claimed that the skeleton had been imported to the U.S. legally. Moreover, Heritage president Gregory Rohan said that the sellers had assured (in writing!) that they had the right to put the Tarbosaurus up for sale.

“Somebody doesn’t put something like this in a major auction that is broadcast and promoted worldwide if they have got something to hide. If there is a title problem, you go and sell it secretly to someone in a backroom for a suit case full of cash,” Rohan said. “That is something we have nothing to do with.”

Like it or not, Heritage’s argument that the fossil was imported legally may have merit. Even though the team that confirmed it is indeed a Tarbosaurus also stated they were quite confident it was unearthed within the last 10 years (and thus well after the 1961 cutoff), that would only make the sale of the fossil illegal in Mongolia. As David Hone noted in a piece in the Guardian:

There have been protests by palaeontologists and the public, and the American auction house in question now seems keen to cooperate and work with the Mongolian government and scientists to look at the provenance of the material properly. But the truth is that selling the fossil is not illegal in the US or indeed many other countries, including the UK. Importing, owning or selling a fossil that was illegally collected and exported from another country is itself not illegal. The sale of what are presumably illegally collected fossils is not uncommon: a good hunt around the internet will reveal fossil birds from China, dinosaur eggs from China and Mongolia. Even Christie’s in London had a Tarbosaurus leg for sale recently (although it was subsequently pulled from auction pending an investigation into its provenance).

Legal or not, the reason the Tarbosaurus auction has caused such a stir (and rightfully so) is because it’s a glaring example of a “private collector” (code for rich person) pillaging of a country’s natural history. A Tarbosaurus skeleton, especially one that’s incredibly complete, is exceedingly rare, which is why someone paid a million bones for it in the first place. But as we’ve seen in the wildlife sector (as well as those ridiculous dead baby pill reports), rarity and expense alone have never stopped the black market. (Cue Walter Sobchak: “I can get you a toe, believe me. There are ways, Dude.”)

As Brian Switek wrote on the excellent Dinosaur Tracking blog:

This isn't just about the legality of selling dinosaurs. It's about what happens to a country's natural history. Too often, significant specimens disappear into private collections where they are rendered effectively useless to scientists. This also cheats the public. It's true that only a fraction of dinosaurs ever collected go up on display, but paleontologists require a large sample of dinosaurs to investigate anatomy, variation, evolution and other biological information preserved in dinosaur skeletons. Those findings filter through to exhibits, books, documentaries and even Hollywood films. Indeed, while members of the public may not get to see every dinosaur up close and personal, public museums keep those remains in the public trust and draw from those specimens to flesh out the world of the dinosaurs. In a private collection, a dinosaur is robbed of its scientific context and becomes just a decorative prop for the affluent. If you've got money to burn, buy a skeletal cast—they are cheaper and easier to mount.

Even the strictest Laissez-faire proponent would argue that there should be intervention against theft, which is exactly what this is. Just because you’ve got a bundle of money doesn’t mean you can stash away a rare skeleton in your house thousands of miles away from the citizens of its natural home, just as it doesn’t mean you can eat tiger balls or dried fetuses without guilt. It’s unclear whether the Tarbosaurus will end up back in Mongolia — the sale is hinged on whether or not it’s legal, but it’s unclear whether Mongolian or U.S. laws take precedent in the very possible case that they disagree — but it certainly should. When it comes to our collective treasures — and, yes, nature and natural history undoubtedly fall under that flag — snatching up rarities for selfish purposes, no matter how much money you have, is no better than grave robbing.

Follow Derek Mead on Twitter: @derektmead.

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