On May 14, 1992, staff at the Black Mountain Institute in Hill City, in the western United States, were going about their work as usual. Suddenly, the tranquility was shattered by the approaching sound of sirens. Then, more than 30 FBI agents and over 20 National Guard personnel stormed in. Following an order from Supreme Court Justice Skoffer, they seized what they believed to be the world's largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil specimen, stored there on suspicion of illegally excavating natural heritage. The institute's staff were stunned as they watched the nearly 10-ton fossil skeleton and surrounding rock, along with related field records and photographs, being packed into boxes by these 50-odd people. It took the officers and guards more than two days to complete this arduous task, after which they transported this "evidence" to the South Dakota School of Mining and Technology, where it was stored in a vault. The seizure of paleontological fossils as evidence in a crime was unprecedented worldwide; moreover, the seized fossil skeleton was an extremely precious and complete fossil known as the "King of Tyrannosaurus Rex," which attracted great attention from the press and the general public at the time.
King of Tyrannosaurus Rex
The story begins two years ago. In 1990, traces of dinosaur fossils were discovered on the Chech River West Oaks Indian Reservation in South Dakota. To excavate these fossils, the Black Mountain Institute paid $5,000 to Mr. William, the landowner and rancher, for permission to excavate there and own all the finds.
However, the Black Mountain Institute was unaware of one crucial fact: Mr. William, for economic reasons, had placed the land under the trusteeship of the U.S. Indian Affairs Agency several years prior. Under U.S. law, Native Americans can enjoy tax exemptions if they entrust their property to the federal government. However, this also meant that he would need permission from the relevant federal agencies to sell the burial goods beneath the land.
Mr. William neither informed the Black Mountain Institute of all this nor went through the necessary procedures. The Black Mountain Institute, bewildered, began the excavation work. Their work, however, was remarkably successful; they unearthed the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton ever discovered, and named it "Su."
Research indicates that "Su" lived during the Late Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago, and was 12.49 meters long and 5.48 meters tall when alive. This precious specimen not only has extremely high exhibition value but also significant scientific research value. Therefore, Mr. Larsen, president of the Black Mountain Institute, has made ambitious plans: on the one hand, to collaborate with several paleontologists to study this skeleton; on the other hand, to build a museum in Hill City specifically to exhibit this "King of Tyrannosaurus Rex".
But then, Mr. William suddenly filed a lawsuit in court, claiming that the Black Mountain Institute had no right to possess "Soviet".
Of a series of research projects, the study of sexual dimorphism in Tyrannosaurus Rex was the most intriguing. Shortly before Su's discovery, the Black Mountain Institute had unearthed a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex named Stan near Buffalo, South Dakota. Mr. Larsen claimed he had discovered differences between male and female Tyrannosaurus Rex in both Stan and Su. Even as Su was being confiscated, Mr. Larsen was meticulously studying its similarities and differences with Stan, preparing to write a scientific paper on determining the sex of dinosaurs. The confiscation of Su, and the subsequent protracted legal battles, forced the interruption of this significant scientific research.
After a four-year legal battle, the court finally ruled that Sue, the king of Tyrannosaurus Rex, belonged to Native American rancher William, but he must guarantee that he will never sell this precious natural heritage. Mr. William stated that he welcomes scientists to come to his farm to study this world-famous Tyrannosaurus Rex specimen. We look forward to the swift completion of scientific research on Sue to solve a series of mysteries, such as the sexual dimorphism of dinosaurs.
