Malta seeks shark tooth fossil presented to Prince George
VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — Malta says it will seek to retrieve a shark tooth that was presented to Britain’s Prince George by veteran broadcaster and naturalist David Attenborough, who found the fossil during a holiday on the Mediterranean island in the 1960s.
Culture Minister Jose Herrera said he will “get the ball rolling” to bring back the tooth to be exhibited in a Maltese museum.
“There are some artifacts that are important to natural heritage which ended up abroad and deserve to be retrieved,” he told the Times of Malta.
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The fossil, believed to be around 3 million years old, belonged to an extinct species of a giant shark that could grow up to 16 meters (about 50 feet), three times the size of modern great white sharks.
Attenborough, 94, presented the fossil to Prince George during a private viewing of his new documentary at Kensington Palace.
Photos released by the palace over the weekend showed the 7-year-old prince looking intrigued as he looked at the tooth. Malta is a former British colony that obtained independence in 1964.
Kensington Palace declined to comment.
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