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Jabalpur Park

By: Santosh :+: Under: Desi Please, It Happens Only in India, Science
On: ⋅ February 6, 2007 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment
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India’s own dino-land

Long before the Babus and even the Maharajas, Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, India, was ruled by a different, pardon the pun, creature.

Jubbulpuria (”Jubbulpore one”) is the name given to a dubious genus of small dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous.

In other words from the days of yore.

Its fossil specimens, consisting solely of a partial vertebrae, were found in the Lameta Formation of India. It is estimated to have been .5 meters high, 1.2 meters long, and perhaps 15 kilograms.

The Lameta Formation of India is the area commonly referred to as the banks of the river Narmada.

Vishal Verma, Rajesh Chouhan and Govind Verma, members of Mangal Panchayatan Parishad, a group of amateur explorers, recently discovered fossilized dinosaur eggs in this area.

“The eggs are from upper cretaceous era when the dinosaurs were yet to be extinct. These eggs can be categorised in three types of soropaud dinosaurs, which were herbivorous. These animals used to come from far away areas to lay eggs on the sandy banks of the rivers in this area, identified scientifically as Lameta bed,” Verma said.

In other words, even dinosaurs were vegetarian in India.

Desi explorers flashing the V-sign
(image: via Hindustan Times)

It is hard to judge from the eggs, but this particular species of dinosaur was truly a sight to behold.

Head and shoulders above mankind

The dinosaurs were 40-90 feet in length, he added.

Further research shows the discovery of a species of dinosaurs in India, appropriately named Rajasaurus narmadensis.

The Raja of dinosaurs
(image: via Geological Survey of India)

Heavy-bodied and stoutly limbed Rajasaurus was a carnivorous abelisaurid (theropod) dinosaur, inhabiting the environs of present Narmada river, 6 crores and 70 lac years ago. It is therefore aptly named as R.narmadensis. Its body measured some 9 m in length and 3 m in height. The heighest point in its body was in the pelvic region. It had a somewhat horizontal disposition of the body, unlike the subvertical stance of the well-known Tyrannosaurus rex. Possessing a regal body frame, R.narmadensis was truly the Raja (=King) of dinosaurs of the Narmada region. Like a true Raja it had a crown of double-crested horns on the head.

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