Recently, paleontologists have discovered that Madhya Pradesh is home to one of the world’s largest dinosaur hatcheries. Numerous districts in the state’s Narmada Valley have produced hundreds of fossilized dinosaur eggs and nests, which belonged to the herbivorous Titanosaurs—one of the largest known dinosaur species. The most recent find was made in the Lameta Formation in the Dhar region, where a group of paleontologists from several institutes discovered 256 eggs, each clutch containing one to twenty eggs, and 92 closely spaced dinosaur nests that date back to around 66 million years ago.
Each nest held one to twenty eggs, with diameters ranging from 15 to 17 cm. While some of the eggs exhibited signs of hatching, others did not.
The Lameta Foundation
The Lameta Formation, a sedimentary geological formation connected to the Deccan Traps, is where the dinosaur fossils and eggs discovered in Madhya Pradesh are from. Lameta Formation: Found in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh, it is of Maastrichtian age (Late Cretaceous). Dinosaur genera found in the Lameta Formation include the abelisaurs Indosaurus, Indosuchus, Laevisuchus, and Rajasaurus, as well as the titanosaur sauropod Isisaurus. Mammals, snakes, and other animal fossils can also be found in the Lameta Formation. Before the dinosaurs went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous epoch, the prehistoric structure in India reflects the last stage of their evolutionary history.
The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Delhi’s Harsha Dhiman led the team that published their findings in the scientific journal PLOS ONE. They came to the conclusion that the Narmada Valley served as a dinosaur hatchery, wherein either the titanosaurs hatched their eggs or came particularly to lay them. Additionally, they proposed that the region’s warm, humid temperature, along with an abundance of vegetation and water sources, were favourable for the survival of dinosaurs.
Similar discoveries have been made in Jabalpur district and Gujarat town of Balasinor
The unearthing of dinosaur nests and eggs in Madhya Pradesh is not unprecedented; comparable discoveries have been documented in the Jabalpur district and the Gujarat town of Balasinor by earlier research. The abundance and near proximity of the nests in the Dhar discovery, however, make it noteworthy and point to a high density of dinosaur population in the area.
Remarkably, the local people in the Dhar district did not identify some of the fossilized eggs as such, despite the fact that they had been revered as holy stones for many years. Known as “Kakar Bhairav,” or the lord of the land, these palm-sized artifacts were thought to be the guardian gods of fields and livestock.
The actual nature of these treasured artifacts and the locals’ understanding of their scientific and historical value were only disclosed when the specialists paid a visit to the location. Although the locals were originally hesitant to give up their ancestor artifacts, they eventually consented to work with the researchers and give some of the eggs to the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences in Lucknow, where more analysis will take place.
In addition to adding to our understanding of the palaeontological past of the area, the discovery of dinosaur fossils and eggs in Madhya Pradesh has created new opportunities for travel and education. The state administration intends to develop the locations as tourism destinations and raise public knowledge of the unique dinosaur history of the state.
By: Gursharan Kaur