150-million-year-old dinosaur fossil found in Gujarat

A new fossil finding has come to light that may make you rethink everything you assumed about the reality of dinosaurs in Jurassic Park? Get ready to be shocked!

What’s the buzz about?
The recent finding of a dinosaur fossil dating back to the Jurassic era is the newest topic of discussion in Indian palaeontology. Sure, India is a land of strange occurrences, but who could have imagined about finding a 150-million-year-old dinosaur fossil in an age-old town of Lodai in Gujarat?
The milestone discovery of the well-preserved fossil of ichthyosaur is going to provide fodder to the scientists for interesting research initiatives about the evolutionary cycle etc.
Who ichthyosaur was?


The ranger of the seas, ichthyosaur, was a marine dinosaur endowed with a body as huge as the size of six SUVs and far-sighted eyes! It was adept in navigating deep waters for searching its prey of different forms. It was characterised by flippers, a pointed head and sharp conical or blade-like teeth to munch its food. This particular species lived more than 150 million years back. The fossils of ichthyosaur are commonly found in the cold North Pole, but to find one in India is a landmark discovery owing to its nearness to the equator.
What led to the discovery?


The fragile fossil was found in Lodai in 2016 in a hard sedimentary rock. The excavation took 1,500 hours or so, and it was a difficult endeavour for the team to dig out the remains due to the hot and dry nature of the site.

A mystery solved After all these findings, the next obvious question is: how come the fossil of a jumbo sea dinosaur be discovered in a nondescript Indian village known for its sultry weather? The answer is that the part of India, where ichthyosaur has been found, was inundated by sea waters. An analysis of the fossil states that once upon a time there was a massive seaway that went through Gondwanaland, the massive continent that comprised Africa, South America, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Madagascar, India and other countries. This seaway evidently cut through land which now forms a part of western India, South America and Madagascar.

Given the revelation of this fossil, it is very evident that ichthyosaurs roamed around different seas and oceans when they lived.