Singapore museum raises funds to buy three dinosaur fossils

Xinhuanet.com: Singapore museum raises funds to buy three dinosaur fossils
SINGAPORE, July 10 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming Natural History Museum in Singapore launched a drive on Sunday to raise 12 million Singapore dollars (9.8 million U.S. dollars) by the end of the month to buy three dinosaur fossils from a company in Wyoming, the United States.

The three dinosaurs on offer from the company Dinosauria International, thought to be a family, were found between 2007 and last year in the United States, the Straits Times reported on Sunday.

Appollo and Prince, the two adult diplodocid sauropods, is about 24 meters long, while the baby Twinky is about 12 meters.

The natural history museum is expected to be completed by 2014. The three dinosaur fossils will cost 870 million Singapore dollars, and an additional 370 million Singapore dollars will be spent to set up the exhibition.

"They wanted the museum to tell the story of the history of life and evolution. Dinosaurs are the history of life," said Professor Peter Ng, director of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, referring to the approval from the scientific advisory committee for the acquisition.

The Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research of the National University of Singapore went on an intensive fund raising campaign last year to build the dedicated Natural History Museum.

The museum said it has found the amount to be challenging. It is therefore appealing for help from the public through the media.

"The idea was always to have a central gallery and put something there that would make people go 'Whoa!,'" said Ng.