Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum (福井県立恐竜博物館, Fukui Ken-ritsu Kyōryū Hakubutsukan) is a museum in Fukui Prefecture, Japan.[1] It is one of many museums supported by prefectures in Japan.[2] The museum is in the Nagaoyama Park in the city of Katsuyama.[3]
Because of a number of dinosaurfossils found here, the whole city of Katsuyama was called “Dinosaur Valley Fukui Katsuyama Geopark” in 2008.[4]
As of 2020, more than 11 milion people visited the museum in total. [7]
Inside the museum
History
The museum was opened in 2000, close to a real dinosaur remains site. It was built in Katsuyama because a lot of fossils have been found there since 1989. Famous fossils such as Fukuiraptor and Fukuisaurus are also showed in this museum.
The cost of the construction was about 14 billion Japanese Yen.[9]
In 2014, a dinosaur building was opened outside, in which people can experience digging fossil as they look at the remains.
Exhibits
The exhibition is divided into 5 zones: "Dino Street", "World of Dinosaurs", "Science of the Earth", "History of Life", and "Dino Lab". 44 skeletons of dinosaurs including 10 original fossils are displayed in the "World of Dinosaurs" zone.
The “Science of the Earth” zone shows the earth from two points of view--“Water and the Earth” and “Fire and the Earth”. People can see how active the Earth is by observing its sediments, rocks, and minerals.
The “History of Life” zone shows the origin of life and vertebrates, and how they have evolved for 4.6 billion years. Organisms on the Earth have evolved through a repeated cycle of evolution and extinction. As living organisms and environment influenced each other, the present Earth environment was formed. You can read the story of life as told by these fossils.
