Hong Kong officials say they have discovered dinosaur fossils for the first time in the city, on a remote and uninhabited island.
The fossils were part of a large dinosaur from the Cretaceous period, about 145m to 66m years ago, the government said in a statement. They will have to do further studies to confirm the species of the dinosaur.
The rock was found on Port Island in the Unesco Global Geopark in the city’s northeastern waters, and the fossils will be on display at one of Hong Kong’s shopping areas on Friday.
Development Secretary Bernadette Linn Hon-ho said: “The discovery is of great importance and provides new evidence for paleoecology research in Hong Kong.”
Experts speculated that the dinosaur’s body was probably buried by sand and gravel and then resurfaced after a major flood, then reburied at the discovery site, the statement said.
The discovery came after the conservation department notified its Antiquities and Monuments Office in March of some sedimentary rocks containing substances believed to be vertebrate fossils. Previously, only a fish fossil from the dinosaur era was found in Hong Kong.
Prof Michael Pittman, a palaeontologist from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the discovery was an exciting moment for the city, which had long hosted extensive dinosaur research but had yet to claim a discovery.
He said: “Hong Kong is known for being a built-up landscape, but half of it is rural parkland. In the countryside, most of what you see is rocks from the dinosaur era, but these are volcanic rocks – and these are bad places to find fossils because fossils just melt.
“But Port Island is one of the islands that has dinosaur rocks of the right type and right environment.”
China is one of four nations leading dinosaur research – along with the US, Canada and Argentina – and tens of thousands of dinosaur eggs have been found in Guangdong province, where Hong Kong is located.
Pittman said: “I hope that if we look at these fossils, we will see differences with those from some of the famous places in China like Sichuan and Yunnan. It can tell a very interesting story about the biogeography of the animals.”
The government said it had commissioned experts in mainland China to conduct field investigations.
Port Island was closed to the public from Wednesday until further notice to facilitate future investigations and excavations.
The fossils will be on display from Friday at the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Center in Tsim Sha Tsui, one of the city’s popular shopping districts. The government also plans to open a temporary workshop for the public to observe experts preparing fossil specimens by the end of 2024.
With Associated Press
