Word: tours
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...with Diamonds the night of her discovery) will headline the Houston Museum of Natural Science's (HMNS) new exhibit, "Lucy's Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia" - only her third public appearance in nearly 30 years, and the kick-off to a planned six-year nationwide tour. But while HMNS curators celebrate Lucy's arrival, some famed paleontologists are grumbling that the rare opportunity simply isn't worth the risk or the hassle...
...government an undisclosed fee - estimates range from $300,000 to several million dollars - plus part of the proceeds from ticket and museum-store sales, money that the government has promised to Ethiopian museums. Ethiopian officials are also hoping that Americans who come to see Lucy in Houston or on tour might come to see Ethiopia too. But scientists say that argument is wrongheaded. "People will go to Ethiopia to see Lucy, but why should they travel to Ethiopia if Lucy has come to their local museum?" says paleontologist Richard Leakey. "Sending Lucy or any other original fossil to America will...
...handled, scientists say, the bones will invariably be damaged, if only microscopically. "This iconic fossil is a unique biological specimen that should never be placed at risk: travel, packing, unpacking and handling exposes the skeleton to dangers that are unacceptable," says Leakey. "The decision to send Lucy on tour to the U.S. and perhaps elsewhere is to be deplored by any right-minded person." Researchers also argue that risking an original, one-of-a-kind artifact is senseless, especially when a replica could do the job just as well. Indeed, dozens of museums all over the world - including...
...education is the ultimate goal, say critics, then Lucy ought not leave her homeland; her grand North American tour will only serve to put the brakes on research. "Scientists who use Lucy for comparative studies will definitely be affected negatively by [her] absence, and I am one of them," says Ethiopian paleontologist Zeresenay Alemseged of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. "Six years is really too long!" Without "a compelling national interest" and "unique and exceptional benefits," Lucy - and, indeed, all similarly rare and valuable objects - should stay home, Alemseged says. If she absolutely...
...ongoing controversy may have impacted Lucy's future travel plans as well. Additional venues for her tour have yet to be announced and at least two prominent institutions - the natural history museums in Washington and Cleveland - have refused to host the exhibit. Meanwhile, in 2008 the National Museum in Ethiopia plans to inaugurate a new building dedicated to research, conservation and storage of antiquities, including fossils - but its star attraction won't be there...