Hezheng Museum of Ancient Animal Fossil

Established in September 2003, Hezheng Museum of Ancient Animal Fossil, located in Liangjiazhuang new village, Chengguan township, Hezheng county, is a national second-class themed museum on late Cenozoic ancient mammal fossils. Covering a land area of 135 mu and a floor area of 23,085 sq m, the museum houses a collection of 5,349 pieces or sets of fossils.

Among them, there are 43 pieces or sets under first-class key protection, 176 pieces or sets under second-class key protection, and 804 pieces or sets under third-class key protection. Within its vast fossil collection, the Hezheng sheep, shovel-toothed elephant, three-toed horse, woolly rhinoceros, equuseisenmannae, and dinocrocuta gigantea are six world record holders with high exhibition, research and education values.

The museum now has three exhibition areas: Linxia Geology (Room No. 1), Life Evolution (Room No. 2), and Hezheng Fossils (Room No. 3), to host the three permanent exhibitions. One of its permanent exhibitions, the Four Ancient Fauna Fossils in Hezheng, won the honor of one of the 10th Top 10 National Museum Elite Exhibitions.

Hezheng Museum of Ancient Animal Fossil is now a National Youth Science Education Base, Gansu Provincial Patriotism Education Base, Gansu Provincial Green Construction Environmental Education Demonstration Base, and Hezheng Scientific Research Base of Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Recognized as a 4A National Tourist Attraction, the museum has been open to the public free of charge since its admission to the first batch of museums enjoying special allowances of central budget in 2008.