Malaysia's limestone hills and caves are time capsules of ancient history

There are 18 sites in Perak's Kinta Valley – including limestone hills, waterfalls and cave temples – that have been declared a part of the National Geopark. — Filepic/The Star

In October 2020, Malaysian scientists made a thrilling find: The fossilised tooth of an extinct elephant called a Stegodon, estimated to be between 30,000 and 80,000 years old, was unearthed in a limestone cave in Gopeng, Perak.

The news made the front pages of local newspapers and online news sites. It was an important discovery due to its rarity. The last big find was in 2014 in rural Pahang, where palaeontologists discovered the fossil of the fish-eating Spinosauridae dinosaur, most likely from the Cretaceous period between 65 million and 145.5 million years ago.