#tarbosaurus bataar

A charging Tarbosaurus bataar. I created this piece as an exercise in fullbody black and white art without lines. As usual, I used various brushes. I also practiced painting the ground kicked up by the animal's feet.

[ The skull of Tarbosaurus bataar, alongside artwork by palaeoartist Hank Sharpe. ]

"Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) returned an impressive collection of dinosaur fossils to Mongolia’s Ambassador to the United States, Batbayar Ulziidelger, at a ceremony at the Library of Congress on Aug. 3. The fossils were recovered through HSI investigations conducted by our offices in Arizona, New York, and Wyoming, and the collection was represented by a tyrannosaurus bataar skull, protoceratops fossil, alioramus skull, and saurolophus skull. The alioramus, which resembles a smaller version of a tyrannosaurus rex, is exclusively found in Mongolia – the source of many, extremely rare fossils. The specimen on display at the ceremony is considered one of the best-preserved fossils ever found of the dinosaur that lived approximately 70 million years ago.

[ The skulls of Alioramus (left) and Protoceratops (right), alongside artwork by palaeoartist Hank Sharpe. ]

“Today’s event is dedicated to acknowledge the solid contributions of the officers and special agents from Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. attorneys, judges, scientists, and all individuals present here at ceremony as well as those who are absent due to their duty, who made this day possible,” said Ambassador of Mongolia Batbayar Ulziidelger. “This ceremony is a testament to the strong partnership between the Government of Mongolia and the Unites States and we are fortunate to witness the first-ever public display of these Mongolian dinosaur fossils.” “We have gathered here to witness the return of dinosaur fossils from the United States to their homeland – Mongolia; these fossils, once lost to time and distance, now find their way back to the land, where they were first discovered,” said Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mongolia Battsetseg Batmunkh. “The remarkable journey of these artifacts demonstrates the strength of collaborative diplomacy and a solid dedication to preserving our cultural heritage. I am delighted to acknowledge the valuable contributions of law enforcement officers and special agents, agencies, attorneys, judges… our collective efforts demonstrated the potential to effectively fight illegal smuggling, both bilaterally and multilaterally.” The first of these cases began in May 2012 when HSI New York initiated a cultural property investigation after receiving information alleging the illicit sale of protected fossils by a U.S.-based auction house. The investigation revealed that an individual, who later pled guilty to criminal counts of illegal importation of dinosaur fossils, was selling a fossilized alioramus skull through the auction house; that skull is part of the collection being returned. That same year, HSI Casper, Wyoming office received an HSI Tip Line report that a retail store was selling a fossilized tyrannosaurus bataar skull. HSI Casper began its investigation relating to the illegal importation and subsequent sale of dinosaur fossils originating from Mongolia, which has strong patrimony laws that prohibit the export of prehistoric fossils. These investigations led to multiple seizures of a wide range of paleontological fossils illegally taken from their country, including:a rare juvenile tyrannosaurus battar skull; a fossilized gallimimus skeleton; a tarbosaurus bataar skeleton; nests of dinosaur eggs; a saber-toothed cat skull; a complete psittacosaurus skeleton; and a protoceratops skull. Some of these dinosaurs lived more than 100 million years ago in an area now known as the Gobi Desert."

Welcome to DinApril 2025, where instead of recycling my list from last year, I made my mom come up with the dinosaurs! Our seventeenth day features a dinosaur that looks like a classic movie monster: Tarbosaurus bataar! This male has found himself taking the place of Gwangi and he is NOT having it.

This is actually the second time this year I did a Gwangi homage.

I was looking into tyrannosaur family trees, as one does, and was all like, hey, Tyrannosaurus and Tarbosaurus are considered sister taxons despite being on opposite sides of the world, what gives? How have we all missed this crucial fact!

I was thinking about it the past few days, and decided to make a passion project where I remade the tyrannosaur family tree with more intake from geography and what biology we had. Today I started it and was looking into papers, and then I remembered something. Beringia. The landmass that was once in place of the Bering Strait. It wasn't just open for migrations during the human migrations, but also in the Cretaceous period.

Tarbosaurus bataar

(temporal range: 70 mio. years ago)

Tarbosaurus, a large tyrannosaurid dinosaur which is closely related to Tyrannosaurus, if not a synonym of Tyrannosaurus, is renowned for having the smallest forelimbs relative to body size of all Tyrannosaurids.