Malawi to hold countrywide exhibition of dinosaur fossils
Posted on: Thursday, 14 August 2003, 06:00 CDT
Malawi to hold countrywide exhibition of dinosaur fossils
BLANTYRE, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Malawi Cultural and Museum Center (CMCK) and a German-funded non-governmental organization, Uraha Foundation, will jointly embark on a countrywide exhibition of the Malawisaurus, the Malawi version of the pre-historic dinosaur.
CMCK Public Relations Officer Isaac Chawinga said Wednesday the Malawisaurus, discovered in the northern border district of Karonga a couple of years ago, is expected to be exhibited throughout the country soon.
"It will thereafter be placed at the Cultural and Museum Center in Karonga," he said.
According to Chawinga, the Malawisaurus was discovered at Mwakashunguti some 70 km from the Karonga district center. It was sent to the Replica Casting International in Canada in the 1990s for studies and to make copies of the rare pre-history creature.
The Malawisaurus has also been displayed in museums in the states of Texas and Georgia in the United States.
Chawinga said the Malawisaurus is now back from Canada and will be used for tourism and education purposes.
Paleontologists, scientists who study the geological past, say the discovery of the Malawisaurus is unique since it was found with its skeleton intact at one place. The fossils measured 10 meters in length and six meters in height at the time of its discovery.
German paleontologist Friedman Schrenk, who discovered the fossils of the Malawisaurus, said such animals lived all over the world about 140 million and 200 million years ago.
He said dinosaurs were different in size ranging from chicken size to the largest creatures of 20 meters long and they were also diverse in their behavior and feeding habits.
"Some were eating plants while others were eating other animals but the Malawisaurus was eating plants," he said.
Besides Malawi, other African countries with such pre-historic fossils include Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa.
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