Coins and notes are seen in a glass case displaying a dinosaur fossil at the Beijing Museum of Natural History. (Photo/www.yangtse.com)

(ECNS) -- Although it's understandable that some believers donate money at temples for either health or wealth purposes, a glass case displaying a dinosaur fossil at the Beijing Museum of Natural History has also attracted the odd coin or note, Beijing Evening News reports on Thursday.

The biology section on the museum's first floor is home to the fossilized bones of a Lotosaurus adcentus, stationed inside a glass container five meters in length, one meter in width and two meters in height.

Coins and cash, ranging from 50 cents to 10 yuan ($1.6), have piled up at the foot of the exhibit. Behind the glass itself is an ID photo, a train ticket, and even a foreign bank note.

There are narrow gaps at the top of the container through which tourists have been squeezing money since last year.

"I don't know why (people do it). Maybe it's just for fun. All kinds of people throw money inside, but kids mostly," commented a museum staff member.

People might have first done so for fun, prompting others to eventually follow suit, said Xia Xueluan, a sociology professor from Peking University.