The Hong Kong Science Museum is opening a new exhibition called ‘The Big Eight – Dinosaur Revelation’ featuring eight enormous reconstructed dinosaur skeletons.
The museum is showcasing eight skeletons of different dinosaur species, with visitors able to see a Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, Spinosaurus, Allosaurus, Hesperosaurus, Diplodocus, Hatzegopteryx, and a baby sauropod.
The largest dinosaur exhibition in Hong Kong is part of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the city’s handover from Britain to China.
The exhibition features some of the most complete fossil skeletons in the world, as well as cutting-edge 3D renderings, and the first scientifically accurate reconstructions of the world’s largest predatory dinosaur and largest flying creature.
‘The Big Eight – Dinosaur Revelation’
Visitors will also get the chance to touch a real 150-million-year-old dinosaur leg bone. “We want visitors to feel the fossil, that is very important for the museum’s educational role,” said museum director Paulina Chan (via SCMP).
Bar the T-Rex, the other seven skeletons are being displayed in Hong Kong for the first time. Planning the project took more than a year, and the installation of the fossils took up to three weeks.
“We needed to expand the area and dismantle some permanent exhibitions to accommodate the eight large pieces,” Chan said.
The prehistoric creatures come from museums and academic organisations in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania and Morocco.
Highlights include the most complete Allosaurus skeleton ever found and the world debut of one of the largest ceratopsians ever reported – Willard the Triceratops. The baby sauropod is displayed in its original buried state.
The exhibition is sponsored by the Hong Kong Jockey Club and jointly presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and First Initiative Foundation.
‘The Big Eight – Dinosaur Revelation’ opens to the public on 8 July and runs through 16 November. Admission is free, but reservations are required.
Images: Hong Kong Science Museum
