A controversy surrounding Moroccan fossils exhibited in Switzerland

The exhibition, underway since October 13 at the Dinosaur Museum in the commune of Pailhac in Switzerland, of seven fossils of the Ankylosaurus dinosaur (Spicomellus afer), discovered in Morocco in 2021, is sparking heated controversy.

Titled “The Stars of the Jurassic”, the exhibition highlights these fossils more than 150 million years old, discovered in the Boulahfa region in the Middle Atlas, in the commune of El Mers, province of Boulemane, and considered by experts in Morocco and Europe as a unique species in the world. “This exhibition is the first in the world to present extremely rare discoveries of dinosaurs,” Stefan Frieden, owner of the Pailhac Dinosaur Museum in Switzerland, told local newspaper 32 Today, adding that “when they were first discovered once, everyone thought they were fake; however, tomography revealed their authenticity.”