Dinosaurs to supercrocs: Niger’s bone keepers preserve its ancient fossils

Niamey, Niger – In a country of the sprawling grounds of Niamey’s lone depository – a unique, open-air benignant statement successful Niger’s superior that doubles arsenic a zoo – imposing fossil replicas of long-extinct animals basal successful a corrugated robust stall.

On a caller precocious Friday afternoon, the Boubou Hama National Museum was engaged with scores of excited children. They shrilled, delighted by the rubbery grunts of the hippos adjacent the replicas, and the faint roars of the lions further up.

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Laughter floated implicit to the fossil exhibition, but the replacement bones, made of resin, and which included those of a long-necked dinosaur called a jobaria, its smaller, sail-backed cousin, and a precise agelong crocodile, were mostly near alone, prevention for 2 men who stopped by for speedy selfies.

While surviving animals contiguous whitethorn bargain the show, Niger’s fossils correspond uncommon grounds of the beingness that flourished successful this portion of the continent earlier humans. Original bones are stored successful a country connected the analyzable to debar harm and theft, oregon are housed successful museums abroad.

Much of the Sahara, including a immense swath of bluish Niger, which lies wrong the desert, is replete with dinosaur and carnal remains similar these, waiting to beryllium discovered by scientists who purpose to overgarment a representation of what the satellite utilized to look like.

Museum director-general Adouramane Gabidan looks astatine fossils connected show astatine Boubou Hama National Museum, Niamey [Shola Lawal/Al Jazeera]

“More than a 100 cardinal years ago, tin you ideate that?” asks the museum’s director-general, Abdouramane Gabidan, successful a wondrous tone, arsenic helium looks astatine the accumulation done the robust railings protecting it.

It’s hard to imagine, helium says, that present-day arid Niger was erstwhile lush forests and immense h2o bodies successful which vanished animals and, later, civilisations thrived.

Dinosaurs, for one, lived astir 252 to 66 cardinal years ago, during a play scientists notation to arsenic the Mesozoic era. Climatic changes, however, aft a immense asteroid crashed into Earth, caused a wide extinction lawsuit that wiped the creatures out, scientists believe. After dinosaurs, aboriginal hunter-gatherer humans co-existed with wildlife successful the once-green Sahara.

“People don’t judge it erstwhile you accidental we erstwhile had h2o here,” Gabidan adds. “That’s wherefore it’s truthful important for our radical to spot this and beryllium educated connected this history.”

Yet, for each the glorious treasures buried successful its shifting sands, Niger has been incapable to alteration its practice into wealthiness and cement itself arsenic a planetary tourer destination for fossil buffs.

Persistent poverty, contempt abundant golden and uranium deposits, means successive governments person much pressing priorities than investing successful archaeology. Instead, Niger has go a taste trafficking zone, with past bones and artefacts smuggled retired to the West and sold for exorbitant prices connected achromatic markets.

In the latest lawsuit of alleged taste theft, a uncommon meteorite originating from the bluish Agadez portion sold for $4.3m astatine an auction held by New York’s Sotheby’s successful July. Meteorites are pieces of chromatic that autumn to the Earth from outer space.

The subject authorities successful Niamey, however, says the chromatic was apt trafficked, and is present investigating however it near the country.

The Bobou Hama National Museum displays fossil replicas of extinct animals, including that of jobaria, a long-necked herbivorous dinosaur [Shola Lawal/Al Jazeera]

After millions of years spent buried beneath the earth, caller fossils look antithetic from what museum-goers gawk astatine erstwhile they are yet displayed. A immense magnitude of enactment goes into cautiously packaging, transporting, cleaning, and past assembling them. It often requires a ample squad of scientists and section guides. Sophisticated machines and temperature-controlled retention facilities to support the delicate fossils from crumbling are besides essential. Careful preparation, with peculiar glues and plaster jackets, for example, enables fossils to withstand question and being displayed. High-quality replicas are sometimes exhibited erstwhile the bones are excessively fragile.

Much of the indispensable infrastructure is lacking successful Niger, and the state lone has a fewer archaeologists. It’s partially wherefore replicas are displayed, on with information considerations. Expeditions determination person often been led by overseas experts, peculiarly those from France who embedded with the French service during assemblage regularisation betwixt the 1800s and 1960. Late geologist Hugues Faure, for example, is credited with discovering the archetypal deposits of fossils portion prospecting for minerals. Palaeontologist Philippe Taquet, meanwhile, recovered and identified taxon similar the ouranosaurus, a herbivorous dinosaur that resembles an inflated, hump-backed lizard.

Oumarou Amadou Ide, Niger’s starring archaeologist and probe manager astatine the Institute of Human Research (IRSH) successful Niamey, blames the dilatory improvement of section expertise connected acquisition – oregon the deficiency of it.

It was lone successful 1974 that Niamey’s Abdou Moumouni University, the oldest nationalist assemblage successful Niger, was founded, decades aft its counterparts successful the region. Archaeology was introduced 2 years later, but there’s inactive nary palaeontology programme – the subdivision of geology that focuses specifically connected fossils.

Ide, who holds a doctorate successful archaeology from Paris’s Sorbonne University, has led excavations of dinosaur fossils and near-intact burial and ritual sites from aboriginal civilisations similar the Bura-Asinda civilization that existed betwixt the 3rd and 13th centuries successful occidental Niger. The Bura tract has been truthful intensely looted of its treasures since its excavation successful 1975 that it’s present connected a UNESCO endangered sites list.

“Niger is haemorrhaging its nationalist culture,” the prof says.

He faults the authorities’ inability to clamp down connected smuggling done Niamey’s Diori Hamani International Airport and found a committee devoted to safeguarding heritage.

American idiosyncratic Paul Sereno, a prof of palaeontology and archaeology astatine the University of Chicago and caput of the university’s Fossil Lab, concurs that the section archaeology model could beryllium stronger.

Sereno began digging successful the country’s northbound successful 1997, moving with Nigerien experts similar Ide. He has since returned connected respective much expeditions during which helium has uncovered astir 9 caller taxon of dinosaurs. One of them is the jobaria, the gangly herbivore whose replica is caged successful the depository hall, and which takes its sanction from a mythical tone successful section Tuareg folklore. Sereno is besides credited with discovering hundreds of quality burials, including the skeletons of a parent curled up with 2 children.

The archetypal jobaria connected nationalist show successful Niamey aft it was archetypal excavated by Paul Sereno and his squad connected December 4, 2000. Some of the archetypal fossils Sereno discovered are kept astatine the Niamey museum, portion galore others are housed successful his laboratory successful Chicago [File: Didier Dutheil/Sygma via Getty Images]

Speaking to Al Jazeera implicit a video call, Sereno recounts his latest expedition successful 2022, which helium says was his astir ambitious. A caravan of astir a 100 radical – scientists, his students from Chicago, section guides, and equipped Nigerien soldiers with vehicle-mounted machineguns – drove from Niamey heavy into the hyperarid Tenere, a agelong of the Sahara successful bluish Niger. In those parts, archaeologists request equipped extortion against bandit groups. Some parts of bluish Niger are besides overrun by equipped groups, which run successful borderline areas with neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso.

“It was a tiny army,” Sereno laughs. “That was a spot of overkill, but there’s nary roads, there’s nary airplanes. You tin beryllium successful the mediate of nowhere, and each of a sudden, you’re going to find somebody. That’s what the godforsaken is like. It’s a fantastic place, but astatine the aforesaid time, you person to bring your security.”

It took the squad 3 weeks of round-the-clock enactment nether the sweltering prima to retrieve 55 tonnes of fossils. Sereno usually has to vessel astir of the fossils to Chicago for preservation, but a July 2023 coup and the consequent authorities alteration successful Niamey person stalled the latest cargo, meaning the bones are inactive sitting successful air-tight containers waiting to beryllium sent.

Even arsenic Sereno is moving to transport the latest fossils to his lab, he’s besides readying to bring them, and others helium earlier retrieved, backmost successful expansive style. The idiosyncratic said helium is collaborating with section authorities successful Niamey and Agadez to physique 2 world-class museums wherever helium plans to show each the fossils helium has gathered implicit the years. Sereno besides plans to physique acquisition facilities to bid students who tin assistance sphere the bones.

“You request to recognize what I person taken astatine the behest and kindness and graciousness of Niger,” Sereno says. “It’s much fossil worldly than has ever been taken disconnected the full continent of Africa. I’ve taken a 100 past humans. Of course, they’re each going to spell back, but it’s an bonzer relationship.”

Rachidatou Hassane, an intern astatine Niamey museum, cleans fossil replicas connected show [Courtesy of Rachidatou Hassane]

The caller schoolhouse of Nigerien experts

As a taste practice prof astatine the Niamey University, depository manager Gabidan is often stunned astatine however small involvement immoderate of his students person successful the applicable aspects of moving successful museums. Many times, helium says, helium has to coax them to articulation him astatine the Niamey depository truthful they tin get the acquisition they need.

A fewer students have, connected taking his advice, go inseparable from the complex, Gabidan says. They signifier portion of a increasing harvest of young radical funny successful moving much intimately connected fossils.

In the cardinal portion of the Niamey University campus, Rachidatou Hassane, 1 of Gabidan’s champion students, sits nether a shadiness of trees, chatting with classmates. Hassane archetypal landed an internship astatine the museum-zoo astir 3 years ago, with nary peculiar tract of involvement successful mind.

Somehow, she says, she’d been attracted to the dinosaurs, and would often find herself going backmost to them. As a student, her enactment progressive cleaning the specimens kept safely distant successful store rooms, but susceptible to termites. She was besides liable for cleaning the resin replicas mounted for display.

“My archetypal brushwood near maine conscionable speechless,” the 28-year-old says. The archetypal bones moved her due to the fact that they’d managed to past for truthful long, she adds. “I was impressed to spot however pristine these bones could stay with bully conservation treatment.” Each one, Hassane says, seemed to her similar a puzzle to decipher, a portion that could uncover decades and centuries of mislaid histories.

It was astir the aforesaid clip that an planetary team, led by Sereno, the Chicago professor, was successful municipality to excavation up caller fossils up north. Rachidatou got to enactment with the team, assisting with the brushing and cautious packaging required for preserving and moving the past bones. Her evident involvement caught the Chicago team’s attention. Barely a twelvemonth later, Sereno’s nonprofit organisation – Niger Heritage – was making arrangements for Rachidatou to question to the United States for grooming astatine his lab.

“It was a full lot,” laughs Rachidatou now, having conscionable returned to Niamey from her 2nd US trip. She has besides had to instrumentality English classes to brushwood up connected her grammar, since French is Niger’s nationalist language. If she tin get the connection skills down, Hassane is acceptable to person a assistance for grooming arsenic a depository conservator. That, though, has been a struggle, she says.

“I stayed with household erstwhile I was successful the US, and we each spoke French and Hausa, and that did not assistance astatine all,” Hassane complains present with a tiny smile.

But if each goes well, she could soon go Niger’s archetypal pistillate museologist, thing she says is now one of her life’s goals.

More students similar Hassane volition besides apt question to the US for survey successful the coming years, each portion of Sereno’s bid to physique section expertise arsenic helium prepares to instrumentality tonnes of fossils to Niamey.

Niger’s fossils can’t bash without immoderate overseas expertise, says Gabidan backmost astatine the depository analyzable arsenic the prima was starting to acceptable and the assemblage began to bladed out.

The hope, however, is that determination volition travel a clip erstwhile Niger’s ain experts volition beryllium truthful good trained that they volition person amended power implicit however their country’s practice is preserved.

“In Africa, we accidental if you privation to assistance someone, don’t springiness him fish, but amusement him however to fish,” Gabidan says. “We request to beryllium capable to bash this for ourselves, for the involvement of the radical of Niger. They should cognize that we, too, person thing to amusement the world, that we person thing to beryllium arrogant of.”