Bayan Mandahu Dinosaur Fossil Protected Area

Bayan Mandahu Dinosaur Fossil Protected Area

The Bayan Mandahu Dinosaur Fossil Protected Area is located 7 kilometers east of Bayan Mandahu Village, Bayantu Sumu, Urad Rear Banner, about 40 kilometers from Saiwusu. The fossil site dates back approximately 75 to 120 million years. It was discovered in 1979, and between 1988 and subsequent years, joint Sino-Canadian and Sino-Belgian dinosaur expeditions carried out several on-site investigations and excavations, unearthing a large number of Cretaceous dinosaur fossils around 70 million years old as well as various mammal and reptile fossils.

Among them, the skull fossils of a nest of juvenile ankylosaurs were discovered for the first time in the world; the complete skeletal fossil of a protoceratops is extremely rare globally; three intact nests of elongated eggs of protoceratops filled a gap in China’s Cretaceous mammal fossil record; a group of ankylosaur fossils, consisting of seven skeletons each about 1 meter in length—approximately one-sixth the size of adult ankylosaurs—have juvenile bones and all skeletal parts exceptionally well preserved, arranged in a line and maintaining their pre-death postures; two skull fossils of newly hatched juvenile ankylosaurs, only two centimeters in length, are a miracle in the history of ankylosaur discoveries; several protoceratops fossils of varying ages were excavated, especially those representing juvenile, adult, and elderly individuals, which is extremely rare worldwide; three intact nests of elongated protoceratops fossils, small carnivorous theropod fossils, and fossils of lizards, crocodiles, and giant turtles that coexisted with dinosaurs helped fill knowledge gaps, and pushed the history of Mongolian ancient mammals back by about 10 million years. Bayan Mandahu has become the most important and largest Late Cretaceous dinosaur fossil production area in China and even Central Asia. This site is hailed as a treasure trove of dinosaur fossils and has been designated by the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as a “Key Dinosaur Fossil Protected Area.”