"Stony Bones": Rare dinosaur skeleton is newest addition to Stony Brook community

It's a long way from Cretaceous-era Madagascar to present-day Long Island —8,600 miles and 70 million years, to be precise — but Manjungasaurus crenatissimus looks right at home in the lobby of Stony Brook University's Administration Building.

Newly installed in anticipation of its May 17 official unveiling, Stony Brook's fearsome Majungasaurus skeleton is already turning the heads of Admin Building visitors and denizens. (It's even acquired a nickname: "Stony Bones.")

The exact replica of the Cretaceous meat-eater is patched together from specimens unearthed on Madagascar by a team of Stony Brook University paleontologists, led by Dr. David Krause of the Department of Anatomical Sciences.

Majungasaurus, a very distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex, was the top predator of its time on Madagascar and a highly unusual theropod. (Theropods, as any seven-year-old will tell you, were carnivorous dinosaurs of the Triassic and Cretaceous periods with short forelimbs and strong hind legs.)

It had a short snout, a thick skull roof, and a horn-like bump protruding from the top of its skull. The various large holes on the side of its skull housed structures like the nostrils, eyes, jaw-closing muscles, and ears.

Stony Brook's Majungasaurus replica, the only one of its kind in North America, measures approximately 21 feet long and seven feet high. The skull is one of the best-preserved and most complete dinosaur skulls ever found.

Interestingly, numerous bones of Majungasaurus exhibit tooth marks that can be attributed only to Majungasaurus itself. This provides the most conclusive evidence ever discovered for cannibalism in dinosaurs.

The installation ceremony will take place on Wednesday, May 17, at 12:30 pm in the Stony Brook University Administration Building Lobby. The event is open to the public. For more information, call (631) 444-2899 ext. 2. Further details, including fast facts, are available in a press release.

Ankizy Fund
Dr. Krause and his team discovered more than unique fossil specimens in the remote villages where they did their research. They also encountered the wonderful children of Madagascar.

Living under squalid conditions in one of the world's poorest countries, these children do not have access to schools and have never been seen by a doctor or dentist. In an effort to help, the Stony Brook researchers established the Madagascar Ankizy Fund in 1998 (ankizy means children in the Malagasy language). The mission of the Fund is to provide education and health care to children living in these desolate areas.

To date, the Madagascar Ankizy Fund has built two elementary schools, established annual clinics staffed by Stony Brook University health-care volunteers, drilled several fresh water wells, renovated an orphanage, initiated community-wide health-care education programs, started a community arts and crafts industry, established sister-institution status between Stony Brook's School of Dental Medicine and the only dental school in Madagascar, and donated used and surplus hospital equipment and supplies.

To find out how you can help, visit the Fund's Web site at www.ankizy.org.