Stolen Skull of Long-Clawed, Ostrichlike Dinosaur Recovered

By Wynne Parry, Live Science Contributor | May 20, 2014 11:56am ET

For decades, the dinosaur Deinocheirus has been known for its impressive reach, with arms and fingers that together measured more than 6 feet (2 meters) long, and claws with foot-long (32 centimeters) curves.

In recent years, paleontologists have discovered more remains of this dinosaur, whose name means "terrible hands." But they arrived too late to get a skull or foot bones — poachers had already taken those parts.

After turning up in a private European collection, a skull and both feet from one animal have been returned to their country of origin, Mongolia, where officials welcomed them with a repatriation ceremony earlier this month. 

Continued