Rare dinosaur footprints, believed to be 15 million years old, have gone missing from Rajasthan's Jaisalmer.
Scientists fear that the rare footprints have either been destroyed, or have been stolen by bounty hunters.
Narayan Das Inkhiya, a groundwater scientist who was part of team which had discovered the dinosaur footprint, said:
"This is a huge loss for Jaisalmer in terms of heritage and for scientific community as a whole. I was part of team which discovered the footprint in 2014. This was a huge discovery as the Mesozoic era is when life originated, and the Jurassic era is an important part of it. Such a relic should have been protected but it is gone now."
Rare dinosaur footprint found in Jaisalmer.
(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)
More About the Dinosaur Footprints
The dinosaur footprints had been discovered in Jaisalmer's Thaiyat region in 2014, and were later confirmed to be Eubrontes glanrosensis theropods. According to a study published in 2015, these footprints were 15 million years old.
In the ninth International Congress on the Jurassic System, held at Rajasthan University in 2014, the possibilities and evidence of the existence of dinosaurs in Jaipur were discussed at length.
After the conference, a team of 20 scientists had discovered two markings of dinosaur footprints in the hills of Thaiyat area in Jaisalmer. The 30 cm long footprints were secured at their original place by the scientists.
These footprints have now gone missing.
Lead scientist Dhirendra Kumar Pandey said that he received the information about the missing footprints a few weeks ago.
Experts believe that it is possible that these footprints may have been destroyed by the uninformed locals or may have been stolen by bounty hunters. Many tourists come to Akal Wood Fossil Park of Jaisalmer every year, which displays fossil wood traces from the same Jaisalmer formation.
According to scientists, the Lathi formation in Jaisalmer is the oldest lithostratigraphic unit overlying rocks of Malani igneous suites in Jaisalmer basin. It is well developed and lies in the vicinity of Lathi, Odhaniya and Thaiyat-Akal area.
The local administration is still groping in the dark over the alleged theft of dinosaur footprints from Jaisalmer.
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