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China Recovers Smuggled Fossil
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced Friday that the smuggled fossil of Archaeoraptor liaoningensis has returned to China with the help of the United States' National Geographic Society.
Coinciding with the Fifth International Meeting of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution and the Symposium on Jehol Biota, the Dinosaur Museum of Blanding, Utah, reverted the fossil which was excavated from a layer dating back to 120 million years ago in northeast China's Liaoning Province and later smuggled out of the country.
"We show sincere gratitude to the National Geographic Society for its help for the fossil recovery," said Wang Yuanqing, vice chief of the CAS Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP).
"China hopes that the international academic circles help all smuggled fossils return to the country," said professor Wang. In a story titled "Feathers for T. Rex?" in its November 1999 issue, National Geographic reported that Archaeoraptor liaoningensis fossil shows "missing links in dinosaur evolution".
However, Wang and his colleague Xu Xing, a Ph.D. with the same CAS institute, ascertained that the fossil is a composite of two different fossilized creatures.
Their dispute has been accepted by the National Geographic Society which publishes the magazine. Furthermore, the society acknowledged the mistake publicly.
"Smugglers often manufacture fake fossils for economic gains," said Wang. "Fossil smuggling does great harm to scientific research."
In recent years, most of influential museums and research organizations stipulated strict policies, prohibiting illegal trades on smuggled fossils.
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