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Man caught smuggling rare dinosaur eggs in Guangdong

Man caught smuggling rare dinosaur eggs in Guangdong

Write: Nambur [2011-05-20]

Traffic police in Heyuan in Guangdong Province accidentally found 23 fossilized dinosaur eggs when conducting a routine inspection of a car bearing the Guangdong-B license plate. The seized dinosaur eggs include 10 of the best preserved "crystal eggs" ever found in the world.

The driver surnamed Yang confessed that he bought the 23 eggs in Heping Village, Yuancheng District, and other areas in Heyuan a few days earlier for more than 10,000 yuan. He had planned to put these eggs in his home collection or sell them at much higher prices in the future. Unluckily for him, he was caught when transporting these eggs.

Huang Dong, head of the Heyuan Museum and deputy director of the Heyuan Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, TV, Film, Press, and Publication, identified the round fossilized dinosaur eggs as native to Heyuan and said that the eggs date from late Cretaceous Period some 65 million years ago.

Some 10 of the crystal dinosaur eggs are under first-grade national protection for their scarcity and value. The fossil material, size, egg shells and crystals are all similar to the dinosaur eggs kept in the Heyuan Museum.