自然學家送給喬治王子一顆史前鯊魚的牙齒

Malta wants back a prehistoric shark tooth that was given as a present to Britain's Prince George by naturalist David Attenborough, saying the fossil should be put on display in the island where it was discovered.

在被自然學家大衛·愛德堡送給英國皇室的喬治王子做禮物之後，馬耳他共和國聲明那顆史前鯊魚牙應該被放置在發現它的小島上。

Kensington Palace announced the gift on Saturday, saying the giant tooth was given to the seven-year-old prince when Attenborough attended a private viewing of his latest environmental documentary with members of the Royal Family.

肯辛頓皇宮在週六宣佈了這項禮物。官方聲稱這顆巨大的牙齒是愛德堡在皇家家庭私人探視時，送給七歲的小王子的。

Attenborough found the fossil during a family vacation to Malta in the late 1960s, the palace said. It was embedded in soft yellow limestone, and is believed to be about 23 million years old.

愛德堡在1960年代一次在馬耳他共和國的家庭旅行中找到了那顆牙齒。皇宮官方聲稱：這顆牙被鑲嵌在柔軟的乳黃石灰岩中，據說這顆牙有2千3多年萬曆史。

However, Maltese Culture Minister Jose Herrera said the tooth should be in a local museum and promised to "set the ball rolling" to get it back.

然而，馬耳他文化部部長何塞·赫雷拉表示牙齒應該被保存在當地的博物館裏，他同時保證會開始尋求機會讓它回來。

"There are some artifacts that are important to Maltese natural heritage and which ended up abroad and deserve to be retrieved," Herrera told the Times of Malta, without giving details of how he intended to recover the fossil.

“有一些流落海外的歷史文物是對馬其他自然遺產很重要的存在，他們是值得被追回的”。赫雷拉表示。但他沒有透露任何關於如何修復化石的細節。

The tooth once belonged to a megalodon, an extinct species of giant shark that could grow up to 16 meters (52 feet).

這顆牙曾經屬於一隻巨齒鯊，一種已經滅絕的巨大鯊魚，這種鯊魚可以長到16m（52尺）。

Malta was a British colony until 1964.

馬其他在1964年以前曾是英國殖民地。