The hunt for a stolen dinosaur in Canberra is over, and it seems the statue theft was nothing more than a birthday prank that went too far.

After digging around for clues for days, ACT police acted on a tip-off and found the missing 1.6 metre Utahraptor in the sunroom of a home in north Canberra on Monday.

The fibreglass statue is valued at $2,400 and was stolen from outside the National Dinosaur Museum at Gold Creek on Thursday night.

The dinosaur seems to have lost its tail after being plucked from its home, but is otherwise undamaged.

A 20-year-old man from Page has admitted to stealing the statue as a birthday prank and is said to have appeared contrite and apologetic for his antics.

He is helping police with their enquires and it is not clear whether he will be charged.

Police say the man had been planning to return the dinosaur to the museum on Monday evening.

The museum and police will now do it for him instead.