Chongqing- May 18, 2022, marks the 46th International Museum Day, and May 19 is China Tourism Day. On this occasion, Chongqing Yunyang Dinosaur Fossil Management Committee signed a cooperation agreement with the Sichuan Zigong Dinosaur Museum and Chongqing Bureau of Geology and Mineral Exploration and Development. The three parties will jointly establish the Sichuan-Chongqing Paleontology and Paleoenvironmental Co-Construction Laboratory. In the future, the dinosaur sites in Sichuan and Chongqing will be better excavated and protected together.

Restoration of Yunyang dinosaur group. (Photo provided to iChongqing)

There are abundant dinosaur fossil resources in China, among which Sichuan and Chongqing are prominent regions. Most of the dinosaurs found there lived in the Jurassic period. Many famous dinosaur fossils were found in Sichuan 70 years ago. For example, the Stegosaurus discovered in Zigong is the oldest in the world. Zigong Dinosaur Museum is the first professional dinosaur museum in China and one of the three major dinosaur museums globally. In addition, the Bashanosaurus primitivus fossil, the oldest stegosaurus fossil in Asia, was recently discovered in Yunyang County, Chongqing. 

Yunyang Dinosaur fossil wall. (Photo provided to iChongqing)

To fully explore dinosaur resources in Sichuan Zigong and Chongqing Yunyang, strengthen exchanges and cooperation between museums, national parks, and laboratory platforms, and jointly promote the construction of the Bashu Cultural Tourism Corridor is the goal of both Chongqing and Sichuan. The agreement will use the Sichuan-Chongqing Paleontology and Paleoenvironmental Co-Construction Laboratory to carry out exchanges and cooperation in scientific research, fossil conservation, display, and advertising.

The key task of the laboratory is to conduct in-depth research on the Yunyang dinosaur fauna in Chongqing and then to do research on the interrelationship between the dinosaur fauna of Yunyang and the fauna of Zigong, as well as on the evolution of dinosaurs in the entire Sichuan basin. The laboratory will also research fossil conservation, further strengthen the research on dinosaur fossil conservation means and focus on the popularization of dinosaur fossils.