Chile Seizes Over 200 Fossils in Container From Madagascar: Extinct for Around 66 Million Years

Customs officials in Chile discovered and seized more than 200 fossils of extinct mollusks. They were found in a shipping container from Madagascar that had been declared as containing home decorations.

Ammonites are mollusks closely related to octopuses and squids that went extinct around 66 million years ago.

“The seized ammonites, which date back around 110 million years, were found among the cargo of a container shipped from China suspected of carrying chains, pendants and glass home decorations,” Chile’s National Customs Directorate said.

“The protected species discovered by Customs arrived in cardboard boxes, wrapped in newspapers and magazines from Madagascar,” the agency said in a statement.

Specialists from the San Antonio Museum of Natural History in Chile confirmed that the objects were original fossils.

Chile’s customs authority said it is awaiting a response to a request sent to the government of Madagascar to confirm the fossils’ origin and to determine whether the African country will formally request their repatriation.