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2012年10月17日上午,在佛罗里达州的埃尔斯维尔,联邦特工和警方逮捕了一个名叫埃里克·普罗科皮的化石走私嫌疑犯,并揭开了国际恐龙化石黑市的面纱。普罗科皮与当局的合作促成了一批恐龙化石被送回蒙古国。这些化石足以在乌兰巴托建成一个新的恐龙博物馆。化石偷盗并不罕见,此类案件大多发生在化石丰富的国家如中国、阿根廷和美国。偷盗化石并将其销售到私人手中,可能会使化石失去科学价值。所以,即使是合法的化石贸易,古生物学家们也强烈反对。而普罗科皮和他的同伙们则辩称,要不是他们,这些恐龙化石会化为灰烬。
On the morning of October 17, 2012, in Ellesville, Fla., Federal agents and police arrested a fossil smuggler named Eric Prokopi and opened the veil of the international dinosaur fossil black market. Prokopit’s cooperation with the authorities led to the return of a group of dinosaur fossils to Mongolia. These fossils are enough to build a new dinosaur museum in Ulan Bator. Fossil theft is not uncommon and most of these cases occur in fossilized countries such as China, Argentina and the United States. Theft of fossils and their sale to private hands can cause the fossil to lose its scientific value. Therefore, paleontologists strongly oppose even the legal fossil trade. Prokopi and his associates, however, argue that if it were not for them, these dinosaur fossils would turn to ashes.