Stuttgart's State Museum of Natural History has agreed to return a 113-million-year-old spinosaurid dinosaur skull — known as Irritator challengeri — to Brazil, following a joint declaration by the German and Brazilian governments. The museum purchased the fossil in 1991, but under a 1942 Brazilian law, fossils found in the country belong to the state, raising long-standing legal and ethical questions about its removal. The decision, welcomed by palaeontologists as a milestone in global restitution, follows an open letter signed by 263 scientists and an online petition backed by more than 34,000 people, and is seen as setting a precedent for how institutions worldwide should handle fossils of contested origin.