Staff from the world’s largest museum, education and research complex were in Otago to collect the fossilised skull and partial skeleton of a 34-million-year-old baleen whale from the University of Otago, which was discovered by the late University of Otago palaeontologist Prof Ewan Fordyce.
While in Otago, Smithsonian fossil marine mammals curator Nick Pyenson and vertebrate fossil collections manager Amanda Millhouse ventured north to visit the Waitaki Whitestone Geopark.
Dr Pyenson said the Geopark played an important role in protecting the geologically significant sites in the region.
‘‘A lot of other places in the world have areas of natural heritage which are significant but that aren’t as secure.
‘‘That security aspect is really important if you want to make sure these are going to be available for the next generation.’’
The Waitaki district was ‘‘world class’’ when it came to fossils, he said.
‘‘What we know about it already certainly merits that.
‘‘The descendants of the extinct critters [found] here are in the ocean today right?
‘‘You still have penguins, you still have marine mammals, so that connection shouldn’t be lost on any visitor ...’’
The group from the Smithsonian Institution arrived last week to prepare the fossil found on Seymour Island, off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, in 1987 for shipping to the United States.
It was now packed across five crates weighing 1900kg, Dr Pyenson said.
‘‘It will be cared for and studied and 3-D digitised and we’ll be able to secure its legacy and its stewardship.’’
The Llanocetus denticrenatus would be one of 42 million fossils in the Smithsonian’s collection.
Dr Pyenson previously worked with Prof Fordyce while on a summer fellowship two decades ago.
He said the late professor, who was instrumental in the development of the Geopark, had been influential in his life.
‘‘He’s a legend in both ways — in the sense of personality and also commitment.’’
