Mosasaurs and Mardi Gras: Smithsonian's Ancient Creature Exhibit Inspires Chief Shaka Zulu's Mardi Gras Suit

Internationally-known for his exquisite Black Masking Mardi Gras suits, Chief Shaka Zulu got his inspiration for this year’s costume from an unlikely source: fossils of ancient creatures discovered in Angola.

Chief Shaka saw the remains from the large, prehistoric marine reptiles in an exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. The fossils from the Cretaceous Era were found by SMU paleontologists Louis L. Jacobs and Michael J. Polcyn and others. Chief Shaka was particularly struck by the fact that Mosasaurs -- the same type of giant sea creatures featured in the “Sea Monsters Unearthed: Life in Angola’s Ancient Seas” exhibit -- had also been discovered in Louisiana.

Considering the history of the slave trade between Angola and Louisiana in the 18th and 19th centuries, and knowing that his wife’s ancestry traces back to Angola, Chief Shaka found historic inspiration for this year’s suit. It will be unveiled on Fat Tuesday (Feb. 21) for the first time.

Jacobs worked with Chief Shaka to provide him with scientifically accurate 3-D images of large mosasaur teeth for the costume.

Chief Shaka is a master of Black Masking suit design, an art form specific to New Orleans, which originated as part of the Indigenous and African culture in the city.

Chief Shaka, 2022 NEA National Heritage Fellow

Unveiling of the masked Mardi Gras suit on Fat Tuesday

10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023

2111 Dumaine St., New Orleans. Chief Zulu will be coming out of the parking lot of that building at N. Johnson and St. Philip.