Parts of Trinidad and Tobago’s history were officially returned after being sent overseas for research.
To celebrate their return, the National Trust hosted its Fun Family Fossil Day at its Mille Fleurs headquarters on Sunday, marking the repatriation of rare fossils from the United States.
The Trust, in collaboration with the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, and the US-based La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, hosted a series of workshops promoting awareness of the country’s fossil record of prehistoric plants and megafauna.
Council member of the National Trust, Dr. Ryan Mohammed, said the highlight of the day was the formal handover of two fossil specimens repatriated to Trinidad and Tobago—one of them, a creature that once towered over the land.
“The two fossils we used for the handover, the formalised handover, was a giant ground sloth, and a giant ground sloth is very similar to what we currently have, what most people know as a silky anteater or a ‘pommy one.’ The giant ground sloth is significantly bigger than that. It was almost as much as 10 metres tall and these are types of animals that would be roaming through Trinidad almost 20,000 years ago.”
Another returning relic was the Glyptodon, an armoured mammal resembling an enormous armadillo.
“But again, this would be an animal that is almost the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, the size of a car like a Nissan Tiida, alright. So these are some of the mammalian giants that we had roaming Trinidad, and they have been fossilised in various tar seeps in Trinidad. So fossils have a history rooted in our crude oil industry as well.”
He said the fossils were originally uncovered during oil exploration in the Forest Reserve area.
Dr. Mohammed said fossils are more than relics—they’re puzzles that require expert eyes and scientific skill to decode.
“In some cases, it is very apparent based on what you see. But most cases, a fossil would look like any other rock. A fossil is a mineralised, mineralised animal to see, or some trace of an animal, so it will look just like a rock. But it’s up to the experts to be able – and this is where the skill set and the training come in and the experience comes in.”
The newly repatriated fossils were unearthed and taken out of the country for research decades ago. Through advocacy by the Trust, over 60 items were returned to be added to the local collection of fossil material at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus.