Travel back into the Jurassic era

Wander among Dinosaur fossils from around 170 mn plus years, found in Adilabad district, at Birla Science Centre

Hyderabad: Tavel back into past – some 170 million plus years- into the Jurassic era. No, it’s not about the wondrous computer generated dinosaurs that go shrieking and wreaking havoc in the Steven Spielberg’s splendid celluloid effort.

Head to Birla Science Centre here in the city for an amazing look of ‘Kotasaurus Yamanpalliensis’, put together from skeletal remains of different dinosaurs that once roamed, around 174 million years back, in and around the present Adilabad district. At 14 metres in length and over 5 metres in height, the Kotasaurus Yamanpalliensis was found near the Yamanpalli village of Adilabad district, Telangana, during excavation work carried out by the Paleontology Division, Geological Survey of India (GSI) from 1974 to 1982.

Around 840 skeletal fragments were discovered during the period, and a careful examination revealed the fragments were actually the bones of 12 different dinosaurs of the same species.

Finally, according to the morphological characters, the bone fragments were put together and eventually mounted at the Birla Science Centre by the GSI in 2002. “After excavating, the GSI scouted for a proper place to mount the fossil and finally it came to the Birla Science Centre,” says R Subrahmanyam, Project Officer, Birla Science Centre.

“We held a series of meetings with GSI to accommodate a few more fossil remains plant leaves and tree branches – that were found during excavation work carried out by the GSI in Mancherial district of Telangana and Chennai areas,” Subrahmanyam says. Around 85 per cent of the structure is made of original bones and the rest is made of synthetic material. “A few ribs and some teeth were made of synthetic material, and it took almost two years for GSI to assemble and mount the skeleton. The fossil is placed on a laterite stone base, imported from Bidar, Karnataka,” points out the Project Officer. Plans are now afoot to expand the gallery section and come up with animated videos to enhance visitors’ engagement. A team from the GSI, southern region, is expected to soon visit the Dinosaurium to check out the available space and possibilities to preserve the fossils here.

“A final decision will be taken only after careful examination of the palaeontology and fossils selection of the museum,” he says. In addition to the giant skeleton, the Dinosaurium also features other fossil specimens like fish, remains of plants and invertebrates from the early Jurassic age, a tree trunk, giant ammonite, dinosaur egg, tibiae (leg bone), and femur (thigh bone) – all found during excavation work carried out by GSI in Telangana (Adilabad),Gujarat and Tamil Nadu states.