More than 30,000 ancient fossils, including dinosaur skeletons, face destruction in the northern province of Hebei unless effective measures are taken to protect them from further damage.

Because of a lack of funding and appropriate protection facilities, the fossils collected by the Shijiazhuang Economic Institute are beginning to weather and oxidize, said Yang Jianping, curator of the museum under the institute.

"If the situation continues, these fossils will become nothing but a pile of dust," according to Yang.

In a showroom without any temperature or humidity control, many fossils are scattered in and around a sand box, covered with thick dust. Others are crammed into boxes and stacked in basements or classrooms.

The institute, formerly named Hebei Institute of Geology, is well-known for its collection of dinosaur fossils, including footprints, skeletons, and eggs. The pride of the collection is a 20-meter-long, five-meter-high skeleton of sauropod believed to have existed in the late Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs began to become extinct.

Yang said, "We spent five years unearthing and cleaning up the skeleton, and 70 percent of the bones were found and pieced together."

Experts and local officials gathered recently to discuss the possibility of raising funds to build a provincial nature museum.

( eastday.com July 23, 2002)