PLANT EATING DINOSAUR – SCIENCE

News: Oldest yet fossils of a plant-eating dinosaur found in Rajasthan

 

What's in the news?

       Scientists from IIT-Roorkee and the Geological Survey of India (GSI) have discovered the fossil remains of a new dinosaur species in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, naming it ‘Tharosaurus indicus’.

 

Key takeaways:

       Significant discovery in Rajasthan's Jaisalmer region.

       Oldest fossil remains of a plant-eating dinosaur were unearthed.

       Derived from the Thar desert, where the fossils were unearthed, and “indicus” denotes its origin in India.

       Not only the oldest known dinosaur eras but also the oldest known diplodocus globally.

       IIT-Roorkee and the Geological Survey of India (GSI) have discovered.

 

Significance:

       At 167 million years old, they are the oldest known diplodocus fossils in the world.

       They can grow more than a hundred feet.

       There are many sauropod groups that are even longer than the blue whale.

       India has also been home to a few early, more primitive sauropods, like Kotasaurus and Barapasaurus.

       They were both discovered in the Kota Formation, a geological rock unit in Telangana, from the Early Jurassic period