dyton mupawaenda
Ivan Zhakata-Herald Correspondent
UNITED STATES Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Pamela Tremont, has unveiled a donation from Yale University to the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe, marking a milestone in international cooperation for science and cultural preservation.
The donation, consisting of 16 fossil specimen cabinets from the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, was celebrated at a formal handover ceremony in Bulawayo recently.
The cabinets are expected to enhance the museum’s ability to store and protect its world-class fossil collections, including the 230-million-year-old remains of Mbiresaurus, Africa’s oldest known dinosaur.
“These fossils are millions of years old. They predate Zimbabwe. They predate the United States. They are all part of our histories,” said Ambassador Tremont. “Preserving them for research, science, and future generations is in all of our interests. I hope these cabinets are extremely useful in your important work.”
The collaboration was made possible through the efforts of Museum Director Dr Moira FitzPatrick and Dr Chris Griffin, Assistant Professor of Geosciences at Princeton University, who conducted postdoctoral research at Yale. Dr Griffin was part of the team that uncovered Mbiresaurus in 2017, working closely with Zimbabwean scientists in an ongoing effort to understand prehistoric life on the African continent.
“This partnership simply would not have happened without the scientists and staff at the museum,” Dr Griffin said. “The museum really is the ‘home base’ for all these expeditions…they are driven by the knowledge of the Zimbabwean scientists on our team and the institutional support from the museum.”
The cabinets, now safely housed in the museum, were facilitated for transport by the US Embassy.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter