100-million-old Fossils of dinosaur found in Meghalaya

A team of GGI scientists discovered the evidence of Sauropod dinosaurs -- dating back to 100 million years -- from West Khasi Hills in Meghalaya

SHILLONG: Archaeologists have excavated fossils of a 100-million-old dinosaur in Meghalaya. The first-hand evidence indicates that the fossils are of the Sauropod dinosaur -- the largest and most fascinating animals that dominated the Earth for millions of years.

It comprised various types of this species ranging from the ones that flew to the ones that devoured plants. With the help of fossils found across the globe, scientists decipher peculiar traits of these giants and understand their lives before they went extinct around 66 million years ago.

Discovering these time capsules, however, is not easy. Palaeontologists relentlessly work for years to find clues of such fossil evidence, which are buried in several unexplored places on our planet, including India.

A team of scientists from the GGI (Geological Survey of India) have discovered fossil evidence of Sauropod dinosaurs -- dating back to 100 million years -- from the West Khasi Hills in Meghalaya. The fossil bone fragments were identified during a field trip by the team of the GSI's Palaeontology division in the Northeast.

The yet-to-be-published findings are considered to be the first evidence of enormous sauropods from the region. Sauropods are regarded to be one of the most giant species of dinosaurs, with long necks, tails, small heads with thick, pillar-like legs and a plant-based diet.

"Dinosaur bones from Meghalaya were reported by GSI in 2001 but they were too fragmentary and ill-preserved to understand its taxonomic identification. The present find of bones is during fieldwork in 2019-2020 and 2020-21.

The last visit of the team was in February 2021. The fossils are presumably of the late Cretaceous era -- about 100 million years ago,'' said Arindam Roy, Senior Geologist, Palaeontology Division, GSI to the media.

In 2001, palaeontologists U.K. Mishra and S. Sen had reported abundant bone fragments of dinosaurs at the Dirang village in West Khasi Hills district. The bones discovered then were poorly preserved and fragmentary in nature.

After nearly two decades, the GSI team has now excavated more than 25 bone fragments specimens of different sizes from the site. Of these, the team selected three well-preserved specimens for the study. They meticulously analysed one specimen, which was of well preserved 55 centimetres (cm) long limb bone humerus.

The team classified the bones by analysing its curvature and development of lateral. Through these morphological characteristics, the team has stated that the fossil belongs to a type of Sauropod. Interestingly, from the same site, they also discovered an incomplete 45 cm long limb bone, which also seems to be belonging to the same species of dinosaur.

However, the final conclusion is yet to be drawn by GSI on these indicative findings of the preliminary studies. As per reports, apart from Meghalaya, the fossil remains of Sauropods have been discovered from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.

Meghalaya is the only north-eastern State where such discovery has been made of Sauropod bones with the probable origin linked to the Titanosaurian group of dinosaurs. These are the group of Sauropod dinosaurs which belonged to Africa, Asia, South America, North America, Europe, Australia and Antarctica. (Agencies)

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