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Chinese Scientists Lead Paleontological Study
World paleontologists who are attending an international academic meeting in Beijing Saturday said that the recent stunning discoveries made by Chinese scientists make China one of the major centers of paleontological research.
Honoring the achievements of the Chinese scientists, the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution granted the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) the privilege to host the society's fifth international meeting and the symposium on Jehol Biota.
In the last five years, the authoritative scientific journals "Nature" and "Science" published 14 articles written by Chinese experts.
Since 1993, fossils of "feathered" dinosaurs such as the Sinosauropteryx, the Peipiaosaurus and the Sinornithosaurus have been discovered in western part of Liaoning Province.
As a Mesozoic site, Jehol Biota has fossil remains of mammals, frogs, lizards and the earliest angiosperm.
"Jehol Biota not only records Mesozoic history, but also symbolizes the cradle for Neozoic creatures," said Wang Yuanqing, deputy chief of the CAS Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP).
Scholars in the west regard Jehol Biota as another Solenhofen, a German geological base which embodies Archaeopteryx fossils.
"So far as category, quantity and complete fossils, Jehol greatly exceeds Solenhofen," said Wang, CAS professor who led the scientific research team in Liaoning.
Constant volcanic eruptions some 100 million years ago resulted in the fossils remaining in good condition.
Scientists could also obtain fossilized skin structures and other soft tissues which are extremely valuable for estimating physiological behavior of creatures and the environment, Wang said.
Jehol Biota has been listed as a key state project with an investment of nearly 20 million yuan (2.4 million U.S. dollars).
"We divided the whole project into eight subjects to thoroughly study the origins, dissemination, extinction of this primitive creatures," said Wang.
The articles concerning Jehol Biota occupied one third of 32 papers on basic natural studies published by the CAS in 1999.
Neighboring areas of Jehol Biota have attracted fossil smugglers from around the globe. Many Mesozoic fossils have been smuggled out of the country.
Chinese scientists have called on all major organizations in the world to ban any trading of fossil and protect limited resources.
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