Where to see dinosaurs kissing and tugging a Gigantoraptor's tail
Where to see dinosaurs kissing and tugging a Gigantoraptor's tail

Video: Where to see dinosaurs kissing and tugging a Gigantoraptor's tail

Video: Where to see dinosaurs kissing and tugging a Gigantoraptor's tail
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Imagine that you have been driving for an hour on a completely deserted road, where for many kilometers in the district there is nothing but sand, grass and burnt-out lichen. And suddenly on both sides of the road from you two huge brontosaurus appear, which are reaching out to each other, as if for a kiss. Other dinosaurs are standing at a distance.

A theme park in China
A theme park in China

This is the kind that can be seen in the Gobi Desert on the border of China and Mongolia. In this place there is an autonomous region called Inner Mongolia, and here is also the small town of Eren-Khoto. You might think that huge statues of dinosaurs were put here solely to lure tourists to this sparsely populated region, but in fact, the choice of theme - dinosaurs - for such a tourist attraction is not accidental.

In the park you can find skeletons of dinosaurs of real sizes
In the park you can find skeletons of dinosaurs of real sizes

The fact is that it is here, near the city of Eren-Khoto, near the salt lake Eren-Nur, which is located just east of the city itself, at the beginning of the last century, paleontologists discovered a large number of dinosaur remains. In the 1920s, the American Roy Chapman Andrews, already a well-known explorer by that time, organized a large-scale expedition of various specialists to Mongolia to study this country from all sides, including the study of vegetation, fauna, geological exploration and paleontology.

Kissing brontosaurs
Kissing brontosaurs

The mission of that expedition was to find the “missing link” in human evolution. The oldest ancestors of homo sapiens, alas, scientists did not manage to find, but they found awns of protoceratops, pinacosaurus, saurornitoids, oviraptor and velociraptor, as well as oviraptor eggs, which were the first finds of these species.

It was in this area that a large number of dinosaur remains were found almost 100 years ago
It was in this area that a large number of dinosaur remains were found almost 100 years ago

The discovery of such large-scale and large finds in this area, of course, had an impact on this region. Judging by the results of the research of the expedition, 70 million years ago the area where the Gobi Desert is now was then a real paradise - with a huge number of lakes, forests, swamps and sandy shores. More than 20 species of dinosaurs lived here, including the Gigantoraptor, an 8-meter, feather-covered dinosaur whose remains were only found in 2005.

Entrance to the theme park
Entrance to the theme park

Kissing dinosaurs at Eren-Khoto lead to a dinosaur theme park. They were built relatively recently - in 2007, and in the park itself you can find large - life-size - reconstructions of dinosaur skeletons, and the statues themselves. Of course, scientists still do not know for sure exactly what these animals looked like - some suggest that they were covered with scales, like modern reptiles, others suggest that dinosaurs were actually feathered. In any case, getting close to such animals, even if they are not real, is an interesting experience.

Gobi Desert Theme Park
Gobi Desert Theme Park
Dinosaurs in the desert
Dinosaurs in the desert
When dinosaurs lived here, the area was covered with forests and lakes
When dinosaurs lived here, the area was covered with forests and lakes
Dinosaur Fairyland theme park
Dinosaur Fairyland theme park
The remains of more than 20 dinosaur species have been found in this area
The remains of more than 20 dinosaur species have been found in this area
Eren-Khoto
Eren-Khoto
The theme park is located on the border between Inner and Outer Mongolia
The theme park is located on the border between Inner and Outer Mongolia
Dinosaurs in China
Dinosaurs in China
Tourist attraction on the border with Mongolia
Tourist attraction on the border with Mongolia

Interestingly, to see the ancient fossils, it is not at all necessary to travel thousands of kilometers and cross the desert - in fact, everyone can see them right in Moscow metro.

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