Nicolas Cage to return Tyrannosaurus skull to Mongolia

Nicolas Cage has agreed to return a rare stolen dinosaur skull to Mongolia after buying it at an auction in 2007.

The Hollywood actor bought the Tyrannosaurus bataar skull for £185,000 after outbidding Leonard diCaprio.

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He was not aware that the item was stolen and was not named in a lawsuit filed by the office of Preet Bharara to take possession for the skull.

According to the BBC, Cage's publicist Alex Schack said he was contacted in 2014 by the Department of Homeland Security who said the skull was possibly stolen.

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When it was confirmed the skull had been taken illegally from Mongola, the actor agreed to return it.

The Guardian reports that the Tyrannosaurus bataar's remains have only been discovered in Mongolia, where the export of dinosaur fossils was criminalised in 1924. The dinosaur was a carnivore related to the Tyrannosaurus rex.

Last year, palaeontologists discovered what they believe was the largest dinosaur ever to walk the Earth.

The discovery was made in Argentina and scientists believed it was a new species of titanosaur, an enormous herbivore.

The 90-million-year-old fossil was believed to be as heavy as 14 African elephants, weighing in at 77 tonnes.

According to the measurements of its huge thigh bones, the dinosaur would have been 130ft long and 65ft tall.