Dinosaurs lived from the mid-Trias period to the late Cretaceous
Period of the Mesozoic era, which was about 220 million
to 65 million years ago. Within its 150 million years of
dominance on the Earth, many kinds of dinosaurs had developed
including sword dinosaur with hard bones, Ankylosauria with
loricae protecting itself, astute Archaelrnithomimus that
was a fierce overlord dinosaur, Sauropoda indet with a small
head, long tail and huge body, etc.
In the ancient period of about 2 billion years ago, the
first record of life appeared in Inner Mongolia area. The
Inner Mongolia Autonomous District is located on the north
border of the People's Republic of China covering an area
of 1183,000 square kilometers. This area has a great ancient
history and is also renowned as one of the richest fossil
sites on earth.
By the Xiansheng Period of the Mesozoic era, this area
was already a habitat of tropic and semi tropic qualities
with many trees and plants. A huge group of dinosaurs of
the Cretaceous Period lived there and these dinosaurs had
a special position in the dinosaur family of Mesozoic era.
At the end of the Cretaceous Period, the dinosaurs died
out and the mammals gradually became the new hosts of the
land.
There have been breakthrough progresses in the excavation
and the study of fossils of ancient plants and animals in
the area of Inner Mongolia. The discovery of Chagannuoer
dinosaur, birdlike dinosaur including Bactrosaurus, Protoceratops,
Pinacosaurus and traces of dinosaur eggs and dinosaur fossils
with embryo; all attracted the attention of the scientific
circles within China and abroad.
Since the beginning of life on Earth, these terraneous
animals disappeared miraculously at the end of the Cretaceous
Period about 65 million years ago and left many enigmas
for us to explore. Nowadays, we could only use fossils -
the "diary" of the Earth - to explore the profound
mysteries of the world of dinosaurs.
This Macau exhibition gathers the most precious items of
ancient fossils from the museum of Inner Mongolia and features
all kinds of dinosaur fossils with regional characteristics
of Mongolia. The items on display are not only the shining
pearls of the Chinese natural history, but also the spectacular
findings of the scientific world.
Exhibition Period: December 19, 2002 till March 18, 2003
