Dinosaur skeleton sells for $1 million at New York auction

A skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus bataar (baa-tar), a distant cousin to the infamous T-rex, sold at auction in New York on Sunday for over one million US dollars.

An anonymous bidder paid 1,052,500 US dollars for the 24-feet-long (7.3 metres) skeleton during the sale at Heritage Auctions.

The sale was not without controversy, however, as the Mongolian government released a statement 48 hours before the auction claiming ownership of the dinosaur.

President Elbegdorj Tsakhia says the bones, which were dug up in Gobi Desert, came from Mongolia and were illegally transported out of the central Asian country.

Heritage Auctions refute these claims, saying the skeleton was legally obtained.

Greg Rohan, President of Heritage, said the Mongolian government had not provided evidence to prove the skeleton came from its territory, but he said the final decision rests with the American legal system.

According to David Herskowitz, Director of Natural History at Heritage Auctions, the Tyrannosaurus bataar pre-dates the T-rex and has only been discovered in Asia.

The T-bataar was slightly smaller and had longer arms than it cousin, Herskowitz told APTV.

The Tyrannosaurus bataar roamed the earth nearly 75-million years ago.

This particular specimen was found about seven years ago in the Gobi Desert, and remained in storage in England.