Source: China Daily

07-20-2007 16:31

A reporter takes a photo of a fossils of carnivorous dinosaur of the Triassic during the press coverage of the Soaring Dinosaurs - Chinese Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life Exhibition at the Science Museum yesterday.

A mind-boggling collection of rare fossils of dinosaurs, including some with feathers, will be exhibited in Hong Kong Science Museum from May 25. As part of the 10th anniversary celebration of the establishment of the HKSAR, the exhibition titled "Soaring Dinosaurs-Chinese Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life" will be held at museum's Special Exhibition Hall from May 25 to November 11.

The exhibition, covering 15,000 square meters, will feature about 200 fossils of dinosaurs and other pre-historic animals and plants unearthed on the Chinese mainland.

Fossil specimens will be provided by Institute of Geology of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Museum, Chongqing Museum of Natural History and Lufeng Dinosaur Museum.

More than 90 percent of the exhibits are genuine.

Some fossils of the Triassic, Jurassic and Early Cretaceous periods, dating 100 to 200 million years ago, will be on display in Hong Kong for the first time.

The Jinfengopteryx elegans and Microraptor gui are believed to be ancestors of modern birds.

"Inside the fossils, feathers can be clearly seen on the body of dinosaurs, which is an important evidence that birds were transformed from dinosaurs," said Karen Sit Man, Curator (Exhibit), Hong Kong Science Museum.

The 26-meter long and 9-meter high specimen of Nuoerosaurus chaganensis, the largest specimen, is also the largest and most complete sauropod fossil found in Asia.

The fossil, excavated in Inner Mongolia in 1985, and named after Mongolian word "chagannuoer", means "white lake" because of salt in the dried lakebed.

Eddie Ng Kwok-wai, Assistant Curator (Technology), Hong Kong Science Museum said they could not show the original fossil skeleton because the fossils were too heavy.

Each piece of bone weighs about 300 kg, while the dinosaur in flesh would be about 60 tons, he said.

The specimen was made of glass fiber according to the real skeleton structure. It was transported together with its supporting structure from Inner Mongolia, he said.

However, the public would be able to see three pieces of original bones at the exhibition: scapula, humerus and femur.

It took two years to prepare for the exhibition and the exhibits were insured at HK$1 billion, he said.

 

Editor:Chen Ge