(Photo/Hua Mengchen)

The Nanjing Museum of Paleontology opened an exhibition of more than 500 amber objects on February 12, including one piece formed 100 million years ago.

Visitors can see a wide variety of amber specimens containing prehistoric flora and fauna, such as snails, spiders, mosquitoes and ants.

The organizer, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of Chinese Academy of Sciences, has the world's largest collection of amber varieties ranging in age from 10 million to 100 million years ago.

Fu Qiang, researcher of the institute, said the value of amber research is to extract biological information from the fossilized objects trapped in the resin and learn about the evolution process and environment.

Fu also said the current technology is impossible to bring dinosaurs back to life, which was depicted in the science fiction film Jurassic Park, because the DNA had been degraded over the years.

The exhibition also included an award ceremony of the 14th Paleontological Painting Competition, an event held to foster love for nature and conservation in primary and secondary school students. In addition, cultural creations inspired by amber objects were also displayed during the exhibition.