GUWAHATI: In a first for the region,
100-million-year old fossil bone fragments of sauropod dinosaur have been found
by researchers of the Geological Survey of India (GSI) in the West Khasi Hills
district of Meghalaya. The yet-to-be-published findings were made during a
recent field trip by researchers from the GSI’s palaeontology division in
northeast. The researchers stated that this was the first record of sauropods
of probable Titan saurian origin discovered in the region. Sauropods had very
long necks, long tails, small heads relative to the rest of their body, and
four thick, pillar-like legs. These dinosaurs were notable for their enormous
sizes and believed to be one of the largest animals lived on the planet. With
the finding, Meghalaya became the fifth state in India after Gujarat, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu and the only state in the North-East to
report Sauropod bones having Titan saurian affinity. Titanosaurs were a diverse
group of sauropod dinosaurs, including genera from Africa, Asia, South America,
North America, Europe, Australia and Antarctica. As per the researcher, the
dinosaur bones from Meghalaya were reported by GSI in 2001 but they were too
fragmentary and ill-preserved to understand its taxonomic identification. He,
however, noted that the conclusions are drawn from preliminary studies and
detailed work is going on.
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