One of the world’s largest dinosaur treasure troves discovered in India

In a massive discovery in the study of the prehistoric giants, Indian scientists have found hundreds of eggs belonging to one of the largest dinosaurs to have ever lived. The team found 92 nesting sites and 256 eggs of the titanosaur, including extremely rare fossil-in-fossil eggs. The findings helped the ground of Indian scientists put forward vital new information on the dinosaur species and its environment in India’s Narmada valley. 

The team made the important findings in the Bagh-Kukshi areas in Dhar District of Madhya Pradesh. The eggs were mostly uncovered in five villages, namely Akhada, Dholiya Raipuriya, Jhaba, Jamniapura, and Padlya, a paper published on the findings in the journal PLOS ONE said.

The area lies between the Jabalpur (MP) in upper Narmada Valley which lies in central India and Balasinor (Gujarat) to the west which falls in lower Narmada valley  in western central India. The team of scientists found “extensive hatcheries” with over 250 eggs of titanosaur during field investigations between 2017 and 2020, the study led by Harsha Dhiman of University of Delhi said. The Lameta Formation in the Narmada Valley is well-known for remains of particular types of dinosaurs (sauropods). These were dinosaurs with very long necks, long tails, small heads, and four thick, pillar-like legs.

 Field photographs of eggs and egg outlines showing various features | Photo: PLOS ONE Journal

The first dinosaur discovery in the area was done by Captain Sleeman in 1928 near Jabalpur. Since then findings in the area have included dinosaur species like Rajasaurus narmadensis, Rahiolisaurus gujaratensis, Indosuchus raptorius, Indosaurus matleyi, Laevisuchus indicus, Jainosaurus cf. septentrionalis, Isisaurus colberti, Titanosauriformes indet, and nine oospecies of titanosaurs, the study said.

The egg findings pointed to possible high diversity in titanosaurs that lived in the Indian subcontinent. This has not been observed in the dinosaur’s fossils. The findings have helped the scientists bring new information on the Indian Late Cretaceous titanosaurs like egg “deformation” and “preservation” and “reproductive biology” including “egg burial, absence of parental care, colonial nesting behavior.”

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