Published on: 2026-09-13
Source: People’s Republic of China — Translation
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Urumqi, September 13 /Xinhua/ — On Sunday, a scientific museum dedicated to pterosaurs — winged reptiles closely related to dinosaurs — opened in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China.
The new museum, which is the first institution of its kind in the world, is located in the Hamiy National Geopark, known as a “paradise” for the study of pterosaur fossils, an order of extinct flying archosaurs.
The museum, whose exhibition area is about 4,600 sq. meters, consists of six oval halls arranged in a staggered pattern. From a bird’s-eye view, the building resembles a clutch of pterosaur eggs lying in the desert.
The museum’s exhibition includes fossils of pterosaur representatives discovered during excavations conducted over more than two decades by employees of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IVPP CAS). Museum visitors are also presented with the world’s first found preserved three-dimensional fossils of pterosaur eggs and embryos, as well as large specimens being shown to the public for the first time.
The museum exhibits reportedly allow for the recreation of a panoramic picture of the evolution of Cretaceous pterosaurs (145–66 million years ago).
The museum not only showcases China’s leading position in pterosaur research but also provides the public with the opportunity to get firsthand acquainted with scientific discoveries and paleontological wonders, noted the director of IPPP CAS, Xu Xing.
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