|
A new dinosaur species that roamed the Narmada valley 65 million years ago has been discovered. Aptly called Rajasaurus narmadensis, the bones of this species were found scattered along the Narmada River in Gujarat and discovered by Indian scientists 20 years ago.
Recently, palaentologists (a specialist archeologist who deals with fossils), Dr Paul Sereno and Jeff Wils studied these collections of fossilized bones more closely. They reconstructed the bones and found that this huge reptile was probably nine metres (30 feet) long, stocky animal with an unusual horned head.
The remains of Rajasaurus indicate that it is related to a family of large carnivorous dinosaurs, most of which had horns, that roamed the Southern Hemisphere, what we know today as Madagascar, Africa, and South America. Probably Rajasaurus preyed on the herbivorous Titanosaur sauropods also inhabiting the Narmada bed at that time.
The age of the bones show that Rajasaurus was a contemporary of Tyrannosaurus rex and therefore one of the last species to live before the dinosaurs were wiped out.
Dr Paul Sereno, is a paleontologist, who specializes in Dinosaur study and is President and co-founder of Project Exploration - a project dealing exclusively with studying the life of dinosaurs across the world.
|
