Apollonia has finally arrived in Singapore! The Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum team had a busy week hustling and bustling to ensure the 14 crates of bones arrive safely in its secure location.
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Just to jolt your memory: Apollonia is approximately 24m in length and is possibly a female! Discovered in 2007, it has a slender build as compared to Prince (our largest dinosaur of the three measuring in at 27m in length). With a perfectly preserved skull, complete with orbital elements and lower jaw, found directly associated with its nearly complete skeleton, Apollonia exhibits an extremely rare degree of preservation as the small skulls of such large dinosaurs are very delicate.
2nd of 3 dinosaurs for museum arrives
By Tan Dawn Wei
Assistant News Editor
The second of three dinosaurs that will be the crown jewel of the upcoming Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum has arrived.
The 24m-long Apollo, or Apollonia, was packed into 14 crates and shipped from a laboratory in Utah. After a month-long voyage, it arrived last Friday.
“We are relieved,” said Professor Leo Tan, 67, director of special projects at the Faculty of Science dean’s office. “At least two of the three are here. Mother and child are reunited.”
The first, baby dinosaur Twinky, arrived in April this year and has been stored in a secret high-security location.
The Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research at the National University of Singapore had just finished raising funds to build a 7,500 sq m purpose-built museum on campus when it heard last year of the discovery – made between 2007 and 2010 – of three diplodocid sauropod dinosaurs that were buried together in a quarry in Wyoming.
Its successful $8 million bid to buy the trio followed an intense two-month fund-raising drive.
The three sets of dinosaur bones will form the centerpiece of the new museum when it opens in 2014.
The third dinosaur, Prince, is being prepped in the Utah lab and will arrive by end of next year.
Professor Peter Ng, 52, director of the Raffles Museum, said that while Apollo is twice the size of Twinky, the process of shipping it here was easier this time as there was a precedent.
Foreign paleontologists will authenticate Apollo’s bones and put them through CT scans.
The museum has now embarked on its third phase of fund-raising.
It needs to raise $10 million in endowment for professorships, fellowships and staff costs.
“This is the last hurdle,” said Prof Ng.
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恐龙”妈妈”来了
联合早报
29 August 2012
继体积最小的＂小不点＂４月抵新后，新加坡迎来了李光前自然历史博物馆购买的另一副恐龙＂阿波罗尼亚＂，＂母子团聚＂。
李光前自然历史博物馆总共买了三副恐龙化石。由于这三只恐龙在同个时间死亡，骸骨又在同个采石场出土，专家推断它们可能是一家人。最先抵达新加坡的＂小不点＂ （Twinky） 是一只未成年的恐龙，而长２４公尺的＂阿波罗尼亚＂（Apollonia，前称 ＂阿波罗＂）则是一只成年梁龙 （Diplodocus）。
自然历史博物馆筹款委员会主席陈伟兴教授 （图片中人）表示，很高兴两副恐龙化石都抵达我国。＂让我更开心的是 ＇母亲＇阿波罗尼亚终于和＇孩子＇小不点团聚了。＂
化石分装１４大箱
＂阿波罗尼亚＂化石共分成１４个巨大木箱装载，经一个月的海路从美国犹他州运来我国，并于上周五 （２４日）抵达新加坡。
最后一副恐龙化石，也是体型最大的＂王子＂（Prince）还在进行与岩石分隔的工作，预计要到２０１４年自然历史博物馆开幕前才能抵达。
（李光前自然历史博物馆提供）
Raffles Museum News III (2007 – 2014) 
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