Scientists have discovered dinosaur fossils for the first time in Hong Kong.
Initial analysis showed that the fossilized bone belonged to a large dinosaur from the Cretaceous period about 145 million to 66 million years ago, the government said Wednesday in a statement, adding that the exact species will be confirmed by future studies.
The bones were “scattered, fragmented, and weathered” when unearthed in a UNESCO-listed geopark in the Chinese territory’s Port Island, authorities said in a separate handout.
“Experts infer that the dinosaur may have been buried by sand and gravel after its death, later exposed to the surface by floods, and then reburied at the discovery site,” it said.
Hong Kong has previously found many plant and animal fossils, including ostracod and ammonite fossils from about 400 to 190 million years ago, but this is the first time dinosaur fossils have been unearthed in the city, the handout said.
“The discovery of this dinosaur fossil is considered very lucky,” it said, noting that despite Hong Kong’s Jurassic to Cretaceous geological layers, which could contain dinosaur fossils, local researchers had not found any in more than a century of geological surveys.