China News Service, Beijing, September 13 (Reporter Sun Zifa) The reporter learned from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology), Chinese Academy of Sciences (Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology) on September 13 that the world's first pterosaur museum, the Hami Pterosaur Museum, opened in Hami, Xinjiang on the same day, and the Xinjiang Hami Pterosaur-Yadang National Geopark was also officially unveiled.
During the 18th Annual Academic Conference of Chinese Vertebrate Paleontology and the 10th International Conference on Pterosaurs, which was held locally, Chinese and foreign experts and scholars in paleontology and archaeology witnessed this important moment.
The picture shows the Hami Pterosaur Museum. Photo courtesy of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wang Xiaolin, an expert on pterosaur research and a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the world's first pterosaur museum is located in the Hami Pterosaur-Yadan National Geopark in Xinjiang. The main body is built 8 meters underground from the Gobi surface. It has a construction area of about 8,000 square meters and an exhibition area of about 4,600 square meters. It has five exhibition halls, including the Chinese Pterosaur Hall and the Hami Pterosaur Hall, and two interactive exhibition halls such as the Imagination Space.
Hami is the world-famous "Hometown of Pterosaurs". It has the world's rare and unique pterosaur fossil resources and the magnificent and unique Yadan geological features. It is the core area for China's paleontological fossil protection research and geological and ecological science popularization. It is praised by the international academic community as "the most exciting discovery of pterosaur research in more than two hundred years." It is initially estimated that hundreds of millions of individual pterosaurs and other ancient vertebrate fossils are buried.
The fossils displayed in the Hami Pterosaur Museum are all originals excavated in the field. The core exhibits include the world's first three-dimensional preserved pterosaur egg and embryo fossils, as well as rare specimens such as the Chinese Silk Road Dragon and the Tianshan Hami Dragon that coexisted with the Hami Pterosaur.
The picture shows the Hami Pterosaur Museum. Photo courtesy of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xinjiang Hami Pterosaur-Yadan National Geopark is located in the Gobi Yadan area of Wubao Town, Yizhou District, Hami City, with a total area of 276.42 square kilometers. It is divided into the "Pterosaur Eden" Park and the Haidao Yadan Park. The park has a large-scale and complete evolution of the Yadan landform group, and the world's first pterosaur museum.
It is reported that Xinjiang Hami Pterosaur-Yadang National Geopark was officially approved as a national natural park in March 2020 and was officially unveiled this time. It has developed into a science education base for prehistoric life and the future world and a science fiction film and television base. Hami local people adhere to the park's founding philosophy of "good research, good protection, good utilization, and good inheritance" and are committed to building it into a national natural park that integrates scientific investigation, popular science research, fossil protection, scientific exploration, and cultural tourism. (over)
