The San Diego Natural History Museum has donated a collection of prehistoric fossils to a museum in Kansas. The San Diego museum had planned to auction off the fossils last year, saying the 85 million-year-old specimens originally unearthed in Kansas didn't quite fit with its focus on the Southern California region.
But many researchers protested against the auction, arguing the fossils belonged in a public institution where they would remain accessible to scientists. Following the uproar, museum officials ultimately decided against selling.
"Putting them up for auction without the guarantee that they would go to a scientific organization was a mistake that we won't make again," said Tom Deméré, curator of paleontology at the San Diego Natural History Museum.
On Sunday, a deal was reached to transfer some of the fossils to the Museum at Prairiefire near Kansas City, closer to where they were originally found about a century ago. The specimens include a 16-foot-long Xiphactinus (a toothy, fast-swimming fish) and a 17-foot-long Platecarpus (a kind of aquatic lizard).
"It's exciting that they're being repatriated, so to speak," Deméré said. "Now the citizens of Kansas can see fossils that are from their state."
