Media

HKU Stephen Hui Geological Museum exhibition to launch on Endangered Species Day 2018 “Hong Kong’s Living Fossils” – the evolution of horseshoe crabs

16 May 2018

The Stephen Hui Geological Museum at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) launches a special exhibition on “Hong Kong’s Living Fossils” on the Endangered Species Day 2018 on May 18, 2018, which will run for 6 months until 4 November.

With human activities such as coastal development, clam digging and fishing, horseshoe crabs will face the threat of extinction in Hong Kong and the legend of the “Living Fossil” will not be sustained if no urgent protection measures are implemented.  This special exhibition will showcase horseshoe crab as old as 475 million years, together with other living fossils to understand their evolution and lifestyle, including their body plan, life cycle and habitats in the geological past and in Hong Kong today. Visitors will have the valuable opportunity to see up-close live juvenile horseshoe crabs and observe the body part functions and lifestyle in action which have helped them to successfully cope with environmental changes for hundreds of millions of years.  Apart from the horseshoe crab, fossils of two other living fossils living largely unnoticed in the coastal environments of Hong Kong, namely the primitive brachiopod Lingula and the small eel-like Amphioxus (also known as Lancelet), will also be shown in the exhibition.

Members of the media are invited to attend an exclusive media preview and meet Dr. Petra Bach, the curator of the Stephen Hui Geological Museum at the University of Hong Kong, who will be joined by members of the Steering Committee to the IUCN Horseshoe Crab Specialist Group, conservationist Kevin Laurie and Associate Professer Dr. Cheung Siu Gin of the Chemistry Department at the City University of Hong Kong.

Details of the media preview:
Date: May 17, 2018 (Thursday)
Time: 10 am
Venue: G/F, Stephen Hui Geological Museum, James Hsioung Lee Science Building, Main Campus, The University of Hong Kong

The media preview will be conducted in English supplemented with Cantonese.

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Rashida Suffiad, Senior Manager (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office, tel: 2857 8555/ email:  rsuffiad@hku.hk