alta wants back a prehistoric¹ shark tooth that was given as a present to Britain's Prince George by naturalist² David Attenborough, saying the fossil should be put on display in the island where it was discovered.

在被自然学家大卫·爱德堡送给英国皇室的乔治王子做礼物之后，马耳他共和国声明那颗史前鲨鱼牙应该被放置在发现它的小岛上。

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.

肯辛顿皇宫在周六宣布了这项礼物。官方声称这颗巨大的牙齿是爱德堡在皇家家庭私人探视时，送给七岁的小王子的。

Attenborough found the fossil during a family vacation to Malta in the late 1960s, the palace said. It was embedded³ in soft yellow limestone⁴, and is believed to be about 23 million years old.

爱德堡在1960年代一次在马耳他共和国的家庭旅行中找到了那颗牙齿。皇宫官方声称：这颗牙被镶嵌在柔软的乳黄石灰岩中，据说这颗牙有2千3多年万历史。

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，马耳他文化部部长何塞·赫雷拉表示牙齿应该被保存在当地的博物馆里，他同时保证会开始寻求机会让它回来。

"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.

“有一些流落海外的历史文物是对马其他自然遗产很重要的存在，他们是值得被追回的”。赫雷拉表示。但他没有透露任何关于如何修复化石的细节。

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

这颗牙曾经属于一只巨齿鲨，一种已经灭绝的巨大鲨鱼，这种鲨鱼可以长到16m（52尺）。

Malta was a British colony until 1964.

马其他在1964年以前曾是英国殖民地。