A museum in south China's Guangdong
Province has earned a place in the Guinness Book of World
Records with its 10,008 dinosaur egg fossils, the largest
collection in the world.
An official in charge of cultural
affairs confirmed that the city museum of Heyuan, in the northern
part of Guangdong, has entered the world-famous record book.
Huang Dong, deputy director of
Heyuan culture bureau and head of the city museum, said the first
group of fossils in the city were discovered in 1996 by children
playing on a building site.
"Since then, local residents have
helped increase the collection and discovered fossils of a dinosaur
and its footprints," said Huang.
Scientists with the Chinese
Academy of Sciences have confirmed the fossils belong to a
small, carnivorous dinosaur species who 70million years ago. They
hope the discovery will shed light on the distribution and
evolution of the species.
Huang said the city urgently needs
funds to preserve the fossils and carry out necessary research.
Currently most of the fossils are
piled in warehouses and garages of the city museum. Some are even
kept outdoors with preservatives applied to their surfaces.
Huang said the city plans to build
a theme park to better preserve the fossils and create a tourist
attraction. The estimated cost for building the park will be 300 to
500 million yuan (36 to 60 million US dollars), he said.
Heyuan city covers 15,800 square kilometers and is 158
kilometers from the provincial capital Guangzhou. Its population is
slightly more than 3 million.
(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2005)