Articles from The
Sahel - August, 2000 - Niamey, Niger
(see below for english translation)
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"Return
of a mission of American Scientists
on the sites of the Nigerienne Dinosaurs "
"An inheritance to preserve"
"65 million years ago died out the dinosaurs, the surface of the ground was striped by a cataclysm which was probably caused by the fall of a large meteorite on the planet. Nowadays, the terrible lizards continue to excite the curiosity of the paleontologists and other scientists and have to be an immense source of inspiration for the cinema of science fiction as it is the case in "Godzilla" or "Jurrasic Park". The paleontologic sites concealing the fossil skeletons of dinosaurs are rare in the world. Here in Africa the richest and more celebrated are those of Gadafaoua in Niger and of a presence of the celebrated American paleontologist Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago (Illinois) in the north country translates the interest which the scientists carry to the sites of the Nigerienne dinosaurs."
Continued article:
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"An inheritance to preserve" Continuation of page 1 In 1993, The american and his team had already updated the fossil remainders of a rare specimen, a carnivore of 9m length which received, after study, the scientific name of " Afrovenator Abakenis " or African hunter of Abakka, the name of the valley for it was discovered in Ingall (see the Sahel daily newspaper No.5551 of May 13, 1998). In 1997 Paul Sereno rapatriated the fossils of Afrovenator and continued his search which showed the discovery fossils of the two other specimens: the "Suchomimus", 12 m length, a carnivore whose food was fish. The other specimen is a herbivore of the family of the sauropods, the "Jobaria" a length of 20m. Today, in accordance with the terms of the "contract" all the specimens were returned home and Paul Sereno, who was received yesterday by the President of the Republic, will continue the Nigero-American dinosaur expedition The scientific and paleontologic interest of the nigerienne dinosaurs that they are delivering reconstitutes a missing study of immense prehistoric fauna from these giant reptiles which populated our ground. It is why they seek this for which Niger becomes aware of this immense treasure for science and culture, that are the sites of dinosaurs in Agadez. And especially that this immense historical inheritance is preserved, possible plunderings in the past several discoveries in particular of the French Paul Taquet in the Sixties revealed immense interest in paleontological basin of Gadafaoua that the search undertaken later by Germans and recently by a team of Japanese researchers confirmed. Mahaman Bako |
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"An Audience with the President of the Republic." "The head of the state receives a delegation of American scientists" "The President of the Republic, Mamadou Tandja, received yesterday a delegation of American scientists led by Professor Paul Sereno of The University of Chicago. The meeting proceeded in the presence of the ambassador of the United States in Niger SE, Mrs. Barbro Kirkpatrick. Paul Sereno focused his arrival at Niger within the framework of search on dinosaur fossils which has led to Niger, principally in the area of Agadez for several years and which were concretized by the update and the study of some rare specimens,"an undeniable scientific value", according to the proper terms of the researcher. This is also why the fossil skeletons of the already studied specimens are to repatriate in Niger and their handing-over to the authorities will be an official ceremony." |