Editorial | Discovery of dinosaur fossils a giant step in history of Hong Kong
Find on island off Hong Kong challenges long-held view that creatures never roamed the area and raises hopes of even more remains
The story of dinosaurs predating history and humankind has always been fascinating. But few could have imagined that the long-extinct giants were roaming in our backyard tens of millions of years ago.
The discovery of their remains for the first time in Hong Kong has not just aroused wider interest in palaeontology and the city’s ancient past, but also opened up a new world of possibilities.
Unassuming as they look, the slabs of bone fossils found at Port Island in the Unesco Global Geopark in Sai Kung have shed new light on our modern city. The remains of the yet-to-be-identified dinosaur species are believed to have been preserved from the Cretaceous period, about 145 million to 66 million years ago.
The find is remarkable in that it challenges the long-held view that the city is a place characterised by a history of active volcanic activities and geological variations, and is therefore no dinosaur hunting ground.
It is puzzling that the specimens were first found in a geological study in 2013, but were not followed up until March this year due to “work priorities”.
Experts at the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences later conducted joint investigations with local authorities and confirmed the findings following osteohistological analysis of the specimens.
