The world's first science museum dedicated exclusively to pterosaurs—prehistoric winged reptiles closely related to dinosaurs—officially opened to the public on Sunday, September 13, 2026, in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of northwest China. Located inside a national geopark in the Hami region, an area globally celebrated for its prolific paleontological discoveries, the newly unveiled Hami Pterosaur Museum spans an exhibition area of roughly 4,600 square meters. Featuring six staggered, oval-shaped exhibition halls, the building's architecture was intentionally designed to resemble a clutch of ancient pterosaur eggs nestled amid the sweeping Gobi Desert landscape.
The museum's curated galleries bring together rare fossils uncovered over more than two decades of dedicated salvage excavations conducted by researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Highlighting this comprehensive public debut are the world's first-ever three-dimensionally preserved fossilized pterosaur eggs and intact embryos, alongside towering skeletal mounts shown collectively for the very first time. Together, the exhibits provide a panoramic, scientifically rigorous recreation of pterosaur biology, nesting behavior, and evolutionary adaptation during the Early Cretaceous period approximately 130 million years ago.
According to Xu Xing, head of the CAS institute, the opening cements China's pioneering stature in international vertebrate paleontology while establishing a world-class educational portal for public scientific discovery. For overseas tourists and paleontology enthusiasts crafting their China travel itineraries in Northwest China, Hami now offers a compelling nexus of scientific discovery, desert landforms, and ancient Silk Road history. Seamlessly complementing classic rail and overland routes through eastern Xinjiang, this one-of-a-kind museum provides global guests with an extraordinary travel highlight that bridges deep geological time with modern scientific exploration.