U.S. Donation Boosts Preservation Efforts at Bulawayo Natural History Museum

By Staff Reporter

United States ambassador to Zimbabwe, Pamela Tremont, today made a very generous donation from Yale University to the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe.

The US embassy donated specimen cabinets that will organize, store, and protect the museum’s world class fossil collections. The donation from the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History was organized with the assistance of Museum Director Dr. Moira FitzPatrick and Dr. Chris Griffin, Assistant Professor of Geosciences at Princeton University, who conducted postdoctoral work in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Yale.

Dr. Griffin joined a team of international scientists in 2017 to unearth the remains of Mbiresaurus, the oldest known dinosaur found in Africa.

Assistant Curator of Paleontology Michel Zondo displayed some of the 230-million-year-old fossils of Mbiresaurus and shared with the Ambassador the ongoing research and education work of the museum.

This collaboration was made possible by Museum Director Dr. Moira FitzPatrick and Dr. Chris Griffin, a professor of geosciences at Princeton University who has made such significant fossil discoveries as the Mbiresaurus, the oldest dinosaur in Africa.

During the handover ceremony, Ambassador Tremont stressed the importance of the donation, “No one who does not preserve fossils from millions of years prior or even older than Zimbabwe and the United States will do science, research, and provide for future generations.The only alternative for your outstanding work is these cabinets.”

Violah Makuvaza who has taken over as the acting director of the museum thanked the U.S. Embassy for the logistic support and she pointed out that to her the cabinets serve also as a symbol of the mutual help between the different institutions of science and of the allied countries.

“They play a vital role in the development of paleontological research and education, facilitating the dissemination of knowledge, and the raising of national spirits,” said Makuvaza.

Dr. Griffin recognized the museum as the place where important expeditions around the world are initiated thus acknowledging the vast experience of Zimbabwean scientists. Assistant Curator Michel Zondo brought the Mbiresaurus fossils to the attention of guests, confirming the museum’s role in the expansion of paleontological knowledge.

The donation was integral to the annual U.S. Fulbright Exchange Lecture, during which Dr. Jennifer Kyker was the guest speaker presenting the works of the Zimbabwean photographer Chicago Dzviti. It was one of the events organized at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair to demonstrate U.S.-Zimbabwe cooperation in the areas of trade, investment, and education.
It is a token for the ever unwavering support towards the research of natural history of Zimbabwe.