Judge Halts Dinosaur Forfeiture

Prosecutors have not proven the bones were smuggled

A Tyrannosaurus Bataar skeleton will stay put, for now, because prosecutors have not proven that it was smuggled, a federal judge ruled.

The Tyrannosaurus Bataar, also known as a Tarbosaurus, lived around 70 million years ago, in the Cretaceous period.

In 1946, a joint Soviet-Mongolian mission discovered the species in the Gobi Desert, and a nearly complete skeleton made its way to Texas for auction two years ago, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.