Tyrannoethics 2: The Alioramus ebay auction

As of this writing, there is a more or less complete Alioramus skull and mandible, with associated cervical vertebrae, for auction on ebay for a third of a million dollars. This specimen is on offer by a dealer based in Charleville Mezieres, France. A quick scroll through the pages linked to Alioramus skull shows numerous other dinosaur bones for sale, including many from Mongolia. Implicit in those pages, and those of their ilk, is the acceptance that private ownership of such fossils is unproblematic.

As a paleontologist who is coauthor of three extensive works on one specimen of Alioramus (Brusatte et al., 2009; Brusatte et al., 2012; Bever et al., 2013), I can say that the sale of the Charleville skull and jaws to a private individual will be a significant loss to science. It is a pathetic and infuriating position that our science is in when important fossils, such as this, surface on the market. This is comparable to situation of field biologists who study species that are imperiled by the illegal trade in body parts, which is fueled by idiotic superstitions and huge profits.

Field biologists fight back with game wardens, new laws, and an effort to shame the culture of slaughter. We need to follow that example and present a united front with the public. The issue for us is urgent - scientifically important fossils are not only lost to the high-profile auctions of Bonhams and I. M. Chait, they also bleed out at a steady rate in these low profile online auctions. Let’s give these auctions the ethical scrutiny they provoke.

Possession by private individuals drives this market at the expense of science; our complacency nurtures the plunder of fossils. Must we remind ourselves that there is no science without the actual fossil?! Although there aren’t bloody carcasses to shock the public, the loss of data is akin to the slaughter of elephants for the ivory trade. As long as there are fossils on offer for purchase to just anyone, our science is being incrementally bled to death from nearly all sides.

Our job as scientists and educators is to convince people that private ownership of important fossils is outrageous, selfish, and uncool. We need common agreement with the public that such specimens belong in real museums, where everyone can see them and scientists have access to them for study. We also need the involvement of governments to set up the actionable legal framework for protecting fossils from private ownership. Until then, fossils such as the $300,000.00 Alioramus aren’t safe from the greed of dealers or the selfishness of collectors. That price tag speaks for itself.

In the meantime, science will continue to suffer the indignity, impotent rage, and impotent sorrow of Orpheus upon seeing Eurydice fade before his eyes.

References

Bever, G. S., S. L. Brusatte, T. D. Carr, Xing Xu, A. M. Balanoff, and M. A. Norell. 2013. The braincase anatomy of the Late Cretaceous dinosaur Alioramus (Theropoda: Tyrannosauroidea). Bulletin of the American Museum 376: 1-72.

Brusatte, S. L., T. D. Carr, and M. A. Norell. 2012. The osteology of Alioramus, a gracile and long-snouted tyrannosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 366:1-197.

Brusatte, S. L., T. D. Carr, G. M. Erickson, G. S. Bever^, and M. A. Norell. 2009. A long-snouted, multi-horned tyrannosaurid from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106:17261-17266.

 

Tyrannoethics

"Money beats soul, every time" -Jim Morrison. "Resist or perish" -A. C. Crispin. The private ownership of dinosaur skeletons is an unethical tide that must be reversed; our science needs society's active protection against this deprivation of data.

In the wake of the November 19^th Bonhams auction of dinosaur fossils, and as the fate of those stunning specimens are decided mostly by nonscientists, I elaborate here on why the auction of vertebrate fossils is unethical. I follow as a framework the ethics guidelines of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP), in particular Sections 4 and 6 of Article 12 .

Section 4. Deposition of fossil specimens
Scientifically significant fossil vertebrate specimens, along with ancillary data, should be curated and accessioned in the collections of repositories charged in perpetuity with conserving fossil vertebrates for scientific study and education (e.g., accredited museums, universities, colleges and other educational institutions).

The decision to put the specimens on auction puts fossils in a perilous position, where they may be purchased by anyone is an action that is in violation of this section. The high prices of the fossils puts them out of the reach of museums and toward, if not into, the grasp of private interests. In the time preceding an auction, the specimens are not curated into a legitimate repository, which is also in violation of this section. The true value of a dinosaur skeleton is not monetary; its value is really in its capacity as a test - and an expansion - of previous knowledge, which is what the deposition section is intended to protect.

Section 6. Commercial sale or trade
The barter, sale or purchase of scientifically significant vertebrate fossils is not condoned, unless it brings them into, or keeps them within, a public trust. Any other trade or commerce in scientifically significant vertebrate fossils is inconsistent with the foregoing, in that it deprives both the public and professionals of important specimens, which are part of our natural heritage.

The decision to auction a fossil for millions of dollars to private interests is in violation of this section. The arrangement of such a sale is an action taken against the interests of the public trust, science and education. Also, the decision to participate in the promotion of such a sale, such as giving interviews of endorsement and writing copy for the corresponding catalog, contravenes this ethic.

Given these ethical guidelines, it is reasonable to assume that a private individual who buys dinosaur fossils really values possession for its own sake, not science or the scientific knowledge that could be gained from a specimen. A private collection is a hoard, which is not equivalent to a museum or university collection, where fossils are catalogued and conserved, and access to researchers is assured. Science requires those standards for reproducibility of observations, for science is nothing if it is deprived of the ability to test knowledge claims.

Society has to be reminded that scientific knowledge is more important than possessing an expensive toy. A paleontologist cannot publish an observation of a privately owned fossil without violating the ethics of the field. Knowing this, fossil dealers and the collectors who pay huge amounts of money for the fossils, must have a complete indifference or contempt for science. I don’t see any way around that inference - the deprivating effect of the exchange upon science speaks for itself.

For example, the T. rex specimen nicknamed Samson was auctioned into the inky night of a private collection. Even if the owner rolled out a red carpet for me and slapped a set of digital calipers in my hands, I cannot publish my observations in the scientific literature because the specimen is not in a public trust that has external accountability. Therefore, section 6 is a reasonable restriction that ensures the self-correcting process of science through access to specimens, and rightly delegitimates the private ownership of fossils.

One serious cost that the market and private ownership of expensive dinosaur fossils brings with it is the decay of the view of museums as the only legitimate and ennobling repositories for irreplaceable objects. Dealers especially (I think more than collectors) require that narrative to validate their actions and the prices they ask for. Sections 4 and 6 are important reminders that museums are institutions that operate for the good of society, not for the gratification of the few who, for thousands or millions of dollars, would deprive civilization of a deeper understanding of Nature and our place in it.

If both tyrannosaurids are auctioned tomorrow to private interests…

Welcome to the big chill - we're in the Ice Age of vertebrate paleontology, where the auction of virtually complete, excellently preserved dinosaur skeletons to anyone is status quo; we can't let this continue. Big Mike (bronze cast of MOR 555) in the snow, outside the front doors of the Museum of the Rockies (Bozeman, MT), the sort of place where dinosaur skeletons really belong.

This table summarizes my total data set for one tyrannosauroid skull and skeleton.

Region	Features	Measurements	Total
Skull & jaws	4,468	3,524	7,896
Teeth	118	388	506
Axial	374	336	710
Pectoral	318	246	564
Pelvic	772	854	1,626
Grand total	6,050	5,348	11,398

If both tyrannosaurids are sold to private interests tomorrow, and assuming 100% completeness of both, then I will lose up to 22,796 data points that capture information regarding the evolution, growth, and biology of those specimens. With each tyrannosaurid sold or poached, I experience a tangible loss of data that amounts to having the eyes of science put out. How can the current state of affairs be acceptable to anyone?

Literature review 2: Loewen et al., 2013

Carbon dust plate of the skull of the holotype (NMMNH P-27469) of Bistahieversor sealeyi in left lateral view © Dino Pulerà. The maxilla is colorized and its 13 tooth positions are labeled. For explanation see text. Abbreviation: NMMNH, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque, NM.

The recently published article “Tyrant dinosaur evolution tracks the rise and fall of Late Cretaceous oceans” by Loewen et al. (2013) is an exciting report of a new, unquestionably valid derived tyrannosauroid from the American West. The new taxon, Lythronax argestes, is important given its middle Campanian geological age, which predates the others from Laramidia. In the interest of full disclosure, I did not receive the manuscript for review at any stage during its course toward publication.

Had I been a reviewer, I would have caught a rather important discrepancy. On page two of their article, Loewen et al. (2013) claim that Lythronax shares with “Teratophoneus and Bistahieversor in the presence of 11 maxillary alveoli”, and restate this on page six, where Teratophoneus “differs from Alioramus and all other tyrannosauroids except Bistahieversor and Lythronax in [the] presence of 11 maxillary alveoli”. However, the only specimen of Bistahieversor that has a complete maxilla is the holotype (NMMNH P-27469), which clearly has 13 alveoli.

In their specimen list (2013: SI, Phylogenetic Analysis Characters), for Bistahieversor they include the holotype, the referred juvenile (NMMNH P-25049), and a premaxillary tooth (United State National Museum 8355; Gilmore, 1916). The maxillary tooth count character is important because it is optimized as a synapomorphy of the Teratophoneus + derived tyrannosaurine clade (Loewen et al., 2013: S4). Also, I want to draw attention to the fact that the correct tooth count can be seen in the published literature, which is shown in the carbon dust plate (and journal cover) of the holotype in Carr et Williamson (2010).

However, this discrepancy does not affect the phylogenetic results of Loewen et al. (2013) because the maxillary tooth counts of “11 to 13” alveoli are coded as a single character state, “2” (2013: S2, character 298). This approach to coding does not test the hypothesis of a primitively 11-toothed clade, a situation that can be easily remedied. Given the conflated coding and the discrepancy between the reported and actual tooth count of Bistahieversor, I would be interested in seeing a short revision from the authors, where the tooth counts of 11 and 13 are coded separately and that for Bistahieversor is corrected.

References cited

Carr, T. D. and T. E. Williamson. 2010. Bistahieversor sealeyi gen. et sp. nov., a new tyrannosauroid from New Mexico and the origin of deep snouts in Tyrannosauroidea. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30:1-16.

Gilmore, C. W. 1916. Vertebrate faunas of the Ojo Alamo, Kirtland, and Fruitland Formations. Shorter Contributions to General Geology 98:279-309.

Loewen, M. A., Irmis, R. B., Sertich, J. J. W., Currie, P. J., and S. D. Sampson. 2013. Tyrant dinosaur evolution tracks the rise and fall of Late Cretaceous oceans. PLoS ONE 8: 1-14.

How can we rescue the dinosaurs from Tuesday's auction?

Myself and a cast of the skull and dentary of 'Samson' (CM 79057) in the vertebrate paleontology collections room of the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. The original skull and skeleton was auctioned in 2009 to a private individual; according to the ethics of my field - which I agree with -  it is out of science's reach because it is not in a legitimate repository, where there is a guarantee of scientific access and conservation in perpetuity. Photo by Amy Henricci.

Vertebrate paleontology is presently at a low moment: an auction hosted by Bonhams on this upcoming Tuesday, November 19, in New York offers for top dollar to anyone: two tyrannosaurid skeletons, two ceratopsian skeletons, the skull of a Triceratops, the skeleton of a Thescelosaurus, Hypacrosaurus, and a Tenontosaurus, among many other vertebrate fossils (Bonhams, 2013). The fossils are on the open market for prices far beyond what a museum can afford; it is probable the fossils will disappear into a private collection. As such, auctions such as this are flagrant and public humiliations of science.

Also, there has been news last month of a Tyrannosaurus rex discovery in South Dakota that has lit dollar signs in the eyes of the ranchers, and the commercial collector who found the specimen (Anon., 2013). It is a near certainty that all of these specimens will be lost to science, as was the T. rex nicknamed Samson that was auctioned to a private individual.

If fossils such as these are not in a legitimate museum, university, or educational institution, then scientists cannot publish on them; scientists must be able to verify observations, and there is no other way, aside from such institutions that the fossils will be held in perpetuity for scientific access. This scientific standard can be found in the ethics statement of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

That ethic is based on the fact that fossils are nonrenewable resources and the fossil record is incomplete, which means every new specimen is a test of previous knowledge. Each new fossil fills in a gap in our knowledge of the growth and evolution of a species. Without a large sample size, our knowledge of extinct life is irreparably compromised.

Evidently, the fossils in the auction were collected from private land, not state or federal lands, and so they are not protected from the market. Some of my colleagues think that our claim, as a field, stops there and nothing more can be done beyond wringing our hands and hoping that a museum with enough largesse can rescue them for science. That position is insufficient – action is needed.

How?

To meet the immediate concern of pulling those skeletons back into the public realm; it is stated in the last line of Amendment V, in the Bill of Rights, of the Constitution of the United States:

“…nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation” (U.S. Const. amend. V).

This line has come to be called ‘eminent domain’ or the ‘Takings Clause’, and I think it is just the ice water we need to drip down the backs of those who would profit by stabbing science in the eyes.

What does that line mean?

It means that state or federal governments can seize lands for public use, such as a road, if and only if the landowners are compensated for the deprivation.

How could this apply to dinosaur fossils?

Since dinosaurs are collected from lands, therefore they arguably are within the scope of the amendment. For example, property under the rubric of eminent domain can include water, minerals, and airspace (Meltz, 2007). It also includes personal property, including mining claims (Meltz, 2007). Legal history shows that personal property does not have much protection from eminent domain (Meltz, 2007). Even mining companies can use eminent domain – as permitted by state law - to seize private land for their operations (Busse, 2012). Therefore, dinosaur fossils are within the grasp of the Takings Clause.

If there is a desire on the state or federal level, then a fossil could be seized for the public use (i.e., science, education), reposited in a museum where it can be accessed by scientists and the public, and the collectors compensated for the expense they took to collect and prepare the specimen.

What could happen next?

Someone with the right connections, motivation, and political clout (perhaps a Republican member of the House of Representative, as a colleague of mine has suggested) could start the gears rolling toward a seizure of the four dinosaur skeletons under eminent domain for public use, and rescue them once and for all.

What then?

Beyond setting a precedent for the practice of eminent domain to seize vertebrate fossils, the laws regarding vertebrate fossils must be brought into alignment with, say, the laws regulating fossil resources in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

References

Anonymous. 2013. T-Rex from Hauser Ranch could rival ‘Sue’ in completeness. News article: Timber Lake South Dakota; Monday, October 21.

Bonhams. 2013. Montana dueling dinosaurs and distinguished fossils. Tuesday November 19, 2013. New York. Catalog:1-67.

Busse, P. 2012. Minnesota landowners worried that mining companies will use eminent domain to take their property. News article: Oakdale Patch: March 19, 2012.

Meltz, R. 2007. Takings law today: a primer for the perplexed. Ecology Law Quarterly 34:307-380.

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Article 12, Section 4, Deposition of fossil specimens.

The Constitution of the United States, Amendment V.

The Bonham's tyrannosaurid auction: what this paleontologist stands to lose

The right dentary of MOR 1125 in medial view, with labels of 31 of the 111 characters that I document for a single dentary bone. Abbreviation: Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, MT.

I also take 219 measurements from one dentary. That's a total of 330 items of information for a single dentary, and 660 items that I could obtain from a specimen such as the dueling tyrannosaurid or Russell the T. rex that has both jaws preserved. How much information does my database stand to be deprived by the sale of just one entire skull to a private individual? The answer makes my mind reel and my disposition deflate.

As an indication of the volume of data that I collect, the numbers given in the table below only pertain to bones; excluded are features and measurements of composite structures (composed of more than one bone) such as the skull, braincase, and lower jaw. The list also excludes the features and measurements of the dentition (although I do gather data from composite structures and dentition).

Bone	# characters	# measurements	total
Premaxilla	61	62	123
Nasals	109	76	185
Maxilla	256	327	583
Lacrimal	276	134	410
Jugal	201	85	286
Postorbital	171	52	223
Squamosal	118	55	173
Quadratojugal	60	35	95
Quadrate	79	28	107
Prefrontal	9	5	14
Frontal	128	85	213
Parietal	59	42	101
Supraoccipital	16	13	29
Otoccipital	40	41	81
Laterosphenoid	36	11	47
Baisphenoid	62	36	98
Prootic	14	15	29
Mesethmoid	2	11	13
Orbitosphenoid	0	5	5
Basioccipital	59	41	100
Vomer	16	23	39
Palatine	106	33	139
Pterygoid	20	26	46
Ectopterygoid	66	40	106
Epipterygoid	18	6	24
Articular	36	14	50
Surangular	57	47	104
Angular	16	13	29
Prearticular	9	19	28
Intercoronoid	7	2	9
Splenial	16	23	39
Dentary	111	219	330
Grand total for half a skull	2,234	1,624	3,858
Grand total for complete skull	4,468	3,248	7,716