Dinosaurs of China was a dinosaur exhibition hosted in Wollaton Hall, near Nottingham. The exhibition included thirty varieties of Chinese dinosaurs and ran from Saturday 1 July to Sunday 29 October 2017. The exhibition, a world-exclusive event, claimed to include specimens from all other China, as well as the world-famous fake dinosaur

Archaeoraptor "Archaeoraptor" is the informal generic name for a fossil chimera from China in an article published in ''National Geographic'' magazine in 1999. The magazine claimed that the fossil was a " missing link" between birds and terrestrial theropod ...

Exhibits and theme

The admission booth of Dinosaurs of China contained a ''

Psittacosaurus ''Psittacosaurus'' ( ; "parrot lizard") is a genus of extinct ceratopsian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of what is now Asia, existing between 126 and 101 million years ago. It is notable for being the most species-rich non-avian dinosaur gen ...

'' sculpted by

Robert Nicholls Sir Robert Dove Nicholls (27 June 1889 – 18 January 1970) was an Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly seats of Stanley from 1915 to 1938 and Young from 1938 to 1956 for the Liberal and Country League a ...

.Dinosaurs of China: Ground Shakers to Feathered Flyers
''v21artspace.com'' Retrieved 2021-01-24. Entering the main hall ("Earth Shakers"), a replica ''

Protoceratops ''Protoceratops'' (; ) is a genus of small protoceratopsid dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous, around 75 to 71 million years ago. The genus ''Protoceratops'' includes two species: ''P. andrewsi'' and the larger ''P. hellenik ...

'' was displayed to the left, and slightly further along on the same wall, a juvenile '' Pinacosaurus''. To the right was a replica skeleton of '' Mamenchisaurus'', positioned centrally in the main hall, and claimed in-exhibit to be the tallest ever exhibited dinosaur replica in Britain. Slightly beyond that was a replica ''

Sinraptor ''Sinraptor'' is a genus of metriacanthosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic. The name ''Sinraptor'' comes from the Latin prefix "Sino", meaning Chinese, and "raptor" meaning robber. The specific name ''dongi'' honours Dong Zhiming. De ...

'', posed in a defensive position. The last fossil on the first floor (in the main hall, at least) was a '' Lufengosaurus''. The exhibition then continued through the building's avian taxidermy hall, noting various similarities between non-avian dinosaurs and birds. This section contained a tiny fossil of the troodontid '' Mei long'', and a larger fossil of '' Oviraptor''. The main hall of the second floor ("Feathered Flyers") was dominated by a replica skeleton of the oviraptorosaur ''

Gigantoraptor ''Gigantoraptor'' () is a genus of large oviraptorosaur dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period. It is known from the Iren Dabasu Formation of Inner Mongolia, where the first remains were found in 2005. ''Gigantoraptor'' wa ...

''. Other fossils of the smaller coelurosaurs ''

Linheraptor ''Linheraptor'' is a genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur which lived in what is now China in the Late Cretaceous. It was named by Xu Xing and colleagues in 2010, and contains the species ''Linheraptor exquisitus''. This bird-like dinosaur was less ...

'', '' Sinosauropteryx'', '' Dilong'', '' Epidexipteryx'', '' Caudipteryx'', ''

Yanornis ''Yanornis'' () is an extinct genus of fish-eating Early Cretaceous birds. Two species have been described, both from Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, China: ''Yanornis martini'', based on several fossils found in the 120-million-ye ...

'' and ''

Microraptor ''Microraptor'' (Greek, μικρός, ''mīkros'': "small"; Latin, ''raptor'': "one who seizes") is a genus of small, four-winged dromaeosaurid dinosaurs. Numerous well-preserved fossil specimens have been recovered from Liaoning, China. They dat ...

'' were also displayed. Moving through the hallway to the next room, another view of the ''Mamenchisaurus'' could be seen, and the fossils of ''

Protopteryx ''Protopteryx'' is an extinct bird and the most basal enantiornithean, from the Cretaceous period.Zhou, Zhonghe. (2002). "A new and primitive enantiornithine bird from the Early Cretaceous of China." ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'', 22(1): ...

'', '' Confuciusornis'', '' Yi qi'' and '' Wukongopterus'' were displayed. There was another taxidermy hall, this time focusing on the conservation of modern endangered mammals. The exhibition then looped back downstairs, made a final pass of the ''Lufengosaurus'', before returning to the admission booth.

Extension

The exhibition had a small section in Nottingham Lakeside Arts about how dinosaurs were drawn through the ages, showing how the illustrations changed with discoveries. It included some answers to the children's trail and a skeleton of the dinosaur ''

Sinosaurus ''Sinosaurus'' (meaning "Chinese lizard") is an extinct genus of theropod dinosaur which lived during the Early Jurassic Period. It was a bipedal carnivore approximately in length and in body mass. Fossils of the animal were found at the Lufen ...

''. Several references, including a sign next to the skeleton, were made to the

Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when ...

film series.

References

Dinosaur museums in the United Kingdom {{dinosaur-stub