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The northeast Chinese city of Beipiao has taken control of a site famed for
its exquisitely preserved bird, dinosaur and plant fossils. The new Beipiao Bird
Fossils Nature Reserve extends over an area of 46 square kilometres, and local
residents have been hired to protect its fossils from smugglers.
Palaeontologists applaud the effort to protect an internationally important site
(see “The People’s fossils”, New ¾«¶«´«Ã½, 9 August 1997, p 32). But
they say that illegal traders may still find rich pickings outside the reserve.
“The fossil-bearing formation extends over most of northeastern China,” says
Phil Currie of the Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta.