The new for 2025 PNSO Hongkongsaurus model is in stock at Everything Dinosaur.  It celebrates a remarkable fossil discovery.  In 2013, fragmentary dinosaur bones were first reported on the tiny Port Island, Hong Kong.  This uninhabited island, popular with tourists, lies at the mouth of the Tolo Channel and forms part of the Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark.  The island is also known as Chek Chau, which translates as “red island” after the red-coloured sandstones and conglomerates that make up much of this landmass.

These sediments were deposited most likely in the Late Cretaceous. Iron oxide gives them their rich colour, showing that they formed in a hot, semi-arid or desert landscape. Rivers and flash floods swept down from nearby highlands, building alluvial fans and braided channels across the basin floor.

The dinosaur bones found on the island are the first dinosaur fossils reported from Hong Kong. When scientists examined the fossils, they realised how rare this find was. The fragments probably include a coracoid, part of a dinosaur’s shoulder girdle. They may have come from one individual whose bones were moved and redeposited by ancient floods. In 2024, the discovery was announced publicly, and Port Island was closed to visitors as excavations began.

The PNSO Hongkongsaurus Model

Researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology (IVPP) recovered about thirty fossil-bearing blocks. These were taken to a laboratory in Kowloon Park’s Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre for careful study. Experts think the bones probably belonged to a sauropod, one of the long-necked, plant-eating giants of the Mesozoic. However, some scientists have suggested they might instead belong to a large ornithopod. Because the fossils are so fragmentary, the exact classification remains uncertain.

Despite this uncertainty, the find inspired Chinese model-makers PNSO to create a beautiful, speculative reconstruction. Their PNSO Hongkongsaurus model portrays a graceful, long-necked sauropod striding through a red, dusty floodplain.

The speculative PNSO Hongkongsaurus model.

To view the PNSO range of prehistoric animal figures in stock: PNSO Age of Dinosaurs Models.

The name “Hongkongsaurus” means “Lizard from Hong Kong”. It is not a formal scientific name – the fossils are too incomplete for that. In taxonomic terms, Hongkongsaurus is a nomen dubium, a doubtful name used informally until more evidence emerges and a scientific description is published.

Even so, the PNSO Hongkongsaurus captures the imagination. It symbolises Hong Kong’s entry into the world of dinosaur science. The model links science, art and discovery, offering collectors a glimpse of a vanished world beneath the Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark.

Mike from Everything Dinosaur commented:

“The fossil bones are fragmentary, but there is a possibility that more dinosaur fossils will be found either on Chek Chau or on other nearby islands.  If more material is discovered, Hong Kong may yet get its first dinosaur.”

The Everything Dinosaur website: Dinosaur Models and Toys.