Geographically and geologically, India is a prehistoric land. India (or the Subcontinent), in all totality, is situated on the Indian plate -- a major tectonic plate that formed as it split from the ancient continent of Gondwanaland, which made up the southern part of supercontinent Pangea (the northern part was called Laurasia). This remarkable event, which would shape the evolution and unique ecology of India, begins 90 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period.
As the Earth is constantly changing in its topography, the Indian Plate, which is so far merged with modern-day Madagascar and Africa, splits and begins moving northwards, covering six inches a year. This brings us to the Eocene Epoch of the Cenozoic Era of 50-55 million years ago. Traversing a distance of 3,000 km, the Indian Plate collides with Asia. It has so far moved faster than any other plate, thus reigniting the engine of evolution. During this entire timeline, the Indian landscape is inhabited by unique wildlife, amongst whom roam and rule species of dinosaurs, whose steady discovery and study over the years has made India a hotbed for paleontological research.
When it all began
The first dinosaur fossils on Earth were discovered in 1819 by British fossil hunter William Buckland. The find, ‘Megalosaurus’, was eventually given a name in 1824. Since then, dinosaurs have fascinated, intrigued, and educated generations of researchers and enthusiasts around the world. The Indian Subcontinent collided with Eurasia about 10 million years after non-avian dinosaurs had gone extinct. Today, it is home to fossils found nowhere else, with bones, nests, and eggs being found scattered across its landmass.
India was where the first dinosaur bones in Asia were discovered in 1828 -- in Jabalpur. The holotype vertebrae were found by Captain William Henry Sleeman of the East India Company on Bara Simla Hill, near a British Army gun carriage workshop. It was decades later, in 1877, when English naturalist Richard Lydekker described the vertebrae as a new species, known as Titanosaurus indicus -- a large herbivorous dinosaur that lived in the Late Cretaceous period (145-65 mya). The term ‘Titanosaurus’ itself has since been declared a nomen dubium (dubious name), while still relating to a range of taxon for a number of titanosaurs, whose existence have been traced to present-day Europe, Asia, and South America. Titanosaurs are also the largest dinosaurs that ever lived.
In the years that followed, more dinosaur remains were found in India, many in the Lameta Formation, an area in the Narmada Valley of Central India. This region is arid, with properties perfect to preserve fossils. Several dinosaur skeletons and eggs from the Late Cretaceous Period have surfaced here, including the T. indicus find of 1828. Earlier this year, researchers uncovered 92 nesting sites containing 256 fossilised eggs belonging to titanosaurs here.
Another important find relates to the remains of a Lametasaurus (1923), named after the Lameta Formation. A carnivore believed to have existed in the Maastrichtian Age (66 mya), only one specimen has been traced so far. The fossil records of dinosaurs in the country are impressive, covering the Mesozoic era – the Triassic period (251.9 mya to 201.3 mya) and the Jurassic period (201 mya to 145 mya), apart from the Cretaceous.
Biggest dino hatchery on Earth
Over the years, dinosaur nests have been discovered from Jabalpur in the upper Narmada valley, Balasinor in Gujarat, to Dhar District in Madhya Pradesh. Experts suggest that this stretch of a thousand kilometres could constitute one of the largest dinosaur hatcheries in the world. Meanwhile, other species that have been discovered include Bruhathkayosaurus, Indosaurus, Indosuchus, Laevisuchus, Jainosaurus, Isisaurus, Rajasaurus narmadensis, and Jabbalpuria in the Lameta Formation; Barapasaurus and Dandakosaurus in the Kota Formation; Alwalkeria in the Lower Maleri Formation, and Archaeodontosaurus in the Isalo III Formation. Experts opine that several of the given names for dinosaurs in India are dubious, since many of their bones and fossil remains are isolated, and more research is underway in this regard.
Globally, over 1,400 dinosaur species have been identified, while in India, palaeontologists have excavated and named a little over 25. But the ancient, pristine and diverse landscape has a lot hidden underneath its crust, with roars and stories going back millions of years.
Some Significant Fossil Finds
This remarkable event, which would shape the evolution and unique ecology of India, begins 90 million years ago
Barapasaurus
Isisaurus
Indosuchus
Rajasaurus