 India is known for its culture and diversity, for its splendid architecture and monuments, for its rich historical heritage. But what is little known is that the country was also one of the biggest homes to dinosaurs. Millions of years ago, dinosaurs of different ages and sizes from different periods of time inhabited India. Central India along the Narmada River has a particularly vast fossil record. In the early 1980s, thousands of dinosaur eggs were discovered in Balasar North town of Gujarat. A dinosaur fossil park was later built there. Despite the discovery almost 40 years ago, there is very little that is known about these eggs and very little that has been done to conserve them. Why is that? And what are the threats faced by India's fossil treasures? We find out. Till wherever your eyes can see, everywhere you will find fossils and eggs of dinosaurs. This is approximately a 72 hectares fence area where you will see fossilized remains of the prehistoric animals scattered all over the place. Alia Farhadbabi is a descendant of the royal family of Balasar North. She has been deeply involved in the fossil conservation efforts in the area. She is also known as the dinosaur princess. This is a very important place because it is the hatchery as well as the graveyard for the dinosaurs. The dinosaurs lived in this region and they died here. So the number of eggs which have been found here is also a large number and the eggs are of both sauropods and theropods and they are very well preserved. We have in the same park, Balasinar Park, there are some nesting sites and also very close to those nesting sites but not very close. In fact, it is about half a kilometer. You will find the beds, the lamata beds in which you find the bones. So that is why people are saying that it is a bad place and also a death place. Balasinar was the second largest dinosaur hatchery in the world. This is the place which is the hatchery for the dinosaur eggs. The eggs are found here within the clutches and the clutch consists of 5 to 7, 15 to 20 eggs and they are still deeply embedded in the rocks. So the largest clutch that we have over here is consisting of around 7 to 8 eggs in one cluster. So this is the largest cluster that we have discovered over here. It is consisting of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 eggs. As you can see, these are spherical in shape and they are probably from the sauropod dinosaurs. The sauropod dinosaurs laid spherical shaped eggs and the theropods eggs were generally oval shaped. Apart from the eggs, different bones have also been found such as this limb bone, parts of a dinosaur's back bone and many small bones which are still unidentified. One of the most exciting discoveries was of the bones of the local dinosaur, Rajasaurus Narmadensis. So this is our very famous, Balasnur's very famous Rajasaurus which was a theropod dinosaur, a 30 foot stocky carnivore dinosaur which feasted on the long neck sauropods which were also found in an area which I will be showing you now which is called the GSI pit. So the fossilized remains of both these theropods and sauropods were found in this pit. Approximately 400 bones were recovered from here including the brain case, the nasal horn, parts of the hind leg, the jaw with a lot of teeth and all were recovered from here. So this you can see is one of the fossilized remains which is still embedded in the rock. A research paper published in 2010 reveals the presence of another carnivore dinosaur in the area. From this pit they found fossilized remains of eight number of dinosaurs. They were probably from one herd, one family and all these dinosaurs were of various ages from an adult to a juvenile and the research was done by Dr. Chatterjee, Dr. Udra and all when they excavated it and it was studied and the papers were published by I think these Chatterjee, Udra and Novus and all and they identified the species as belonging to a carnivore dinosaur which was not the Rajasaurus but another dinosaur which the name they gave was after the village of Rayoli called Rayoli-saurus Gujaratensis. Remains of dinosaurs have also been found in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh around 250 kilometers from Balasinore. The local population of this area is instrumental in the protection of fossils that have been found here. High school physics teacher Vishal Verma has been leading the effort. The area is rich in fossils of marine and plant life from different prehistoric eras. Dinosaur fossils were first discovered in 1991. About a decade ago, 100 dinosaur eggs were also found. I had a student who wanted to tell us about all the sites and he wanted to be a PhD student. During that time, all the sites where we were allowed to find the dinosaur fossils were rocks like that. We had to take it there as well. I was not able to find any dinosaur even after going there many times. But after going with him, we kept going for a few days. And we got 25 dinosaur eggs in a few days. After that, we collected a lot of eggs for 100 to 100 hours. There were a lot of nests. We had a lot of dinosaur nests from the institute and the Luz. We found 3 nesting fossils in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh. They are about 30 kilometers away from Dhar district. This is the biggest nesting of Dhar district of Dhanasaur. We found 65 nests here. In 2007, we found 100 Luz eggs here. We also found the nests of the institute. It was a huge achievement for us. This is a Maestrian time age. You can see a mountain called Complamator Rocks. You can see a very thin white layer of a circular structure. This is basically an intact dinosaur egg. These are actuals of dinosaur eggs. The upper half of the egg has come out of the weathering. The lower half of the egg is in the institute. There is a structure like a cottage here. The entire structure has come out of here. Some actuals have come out of here. There are a lot of egg fragments around here. When we get a natural institute like this, when there is a lack of lithology, we get a complete Luz eggs when we go out. The actuals that you see here are the eggs of a typical dinosaur egg. They are fully spherical and perfectly spherical. You can see the dotted type of the actual details. This is not the way it came out. This is the way it came out. This is a Luz egg. The site has been declared protected as the National Dinosaur Fossil Park, consisting of an area of around 90 hectares scattered with fossils. In this, you can see the eggs of these two dinosaurs. Then there are two eggs. Then there are two eggs like this. In this way, you can see that a curvature shape has come out of the egg. When we get a lot of nests, and if they are of different dinosaurs, we get a nesting pattern. Some give eggs in a spiral way, some give eggs in a random way. We should know a little bit about dinosaurs. We call an oviduct a duct from which the eggs come out. Birds have a single oviduct. Dinosaurs have two oviducts. We get the laying of the eggs from both the oviducts. This is a different pattern. We can see that this is an understudy, but we have to understand that two eggs have come out of the oviduct. There are about 65 such nests in this National Park. We get different information about each nests. Not only about dinosaurs, but also about the biodiversity and the biodiversity of the time. The immense variety of fossils found in the area show what life was like when dinosaurs walked on planet Earth. This is the entire habitat of our dinosaur. This is the entire reserve. This is the formation that we get in Central India or Narbada River basin along which we get dinosaur eggs. We get STGN lamata rocks. This is a little earlier. They are about 70 million years old for their reductive dating. They have been alive since the time of dinosaurs. The marine life fossils found here are from different prehistoric periods. If you look at the Jalaskan history, this namada valley was once a rift valley. It underwent a sort of down drop of the rocks, which would result in a rift valley. Nowadays, we have the East African rift valley in Africa, which is a recent event. We had this long ago, much, much more before even the dinosaurs. And then this was reactivated in the cretaceous that is around 100 million years ago. So along this rift valley, the marine water incursion of the marine waters took place. So the sea transgressed the land. So it happened around 100 million years ago. The marine fossils originate from this incursion. As you can see, there are a lot of shark's teeth in this. There are a lot of them. We have a large number of them. We have a large number of them, in the time of Cognition, Silica, Laid, and Masti Chin. We have around 40,000 of them. In the last four years, we have collected the shark's teeth from different places. For the second teeth, we have the brittle rocks from those rocks. Or we have to cool them down and remove the tooth from them. So these are about 12 to 12 feet long sharks. And we have seven types of sharks here. We have seven types of sharks here. We have a large number of them. And as far as we know, the data is available on the internet. The large amount of shark's fossil deposits are nowhere in India. We have these sharks in the time of Cognition. And then there is a time gap in the middle. And then we have the late Masti Chin, from Cognition. So we have the sharks of different time periods. And then we have the chapter of its evolution. We talk about dinosaurs. So here we have pre-Chenomenian age which we have here, in the era of Abel Suright. When the sea did not come, there was a dinosaur at that time. When the sea came at the time age, it was around the dinosaur. So it came into the sea because the sea was quite shallow. When the sea goes away, the fresh land that is exposed then comes down to the valley. The beauty and widespread presence of these fossils has led to the development of interesting cultures around them. Worshipping a fossil is a common phenomenon in Dhar district. I felt that there was a rock in the middle of the river. It was like a rock. There was a rock all around it. In the middle of the river, I got it about 20 years ago. I got it about 20 years ago. I didn't keep it here. I kept it at home. Since the temple was built on the side of the wall, I have kept it here for 2-3 years. There are many columns-type structures. They are connected to each other. And if you look at these structures from a distance, there is a whole field and there is a small hill in the middle. There is a long one and a small long arrow. In the middle of the arrow, these columns are pressed inside. If something goes wrong, they come out of it. Basically, basaltic lava is formed by the cooling of the lava. In India, especially in Madhya Pradesh, there are a lot of these. But there is no protated declare. Narbada is a tectonic activity. The whole systemic activity is still active. And in the old days, we had monuments like this. And at different times, there are a lot of monuments like this. The age is the most important thing. The activities here in Narbada are also very important. Actually, we were working on making roads. It is very easy to fall down. But it is a very good preserve. Sometimes it gets a little messy. So it is easy to fall down. It is easy to make a pit. So, there was something here that the whole thing that you are seeing here, was removed and made a pit. So, when we got to know, we complained to him. Even the professor of telecommunication, G. V. R. Prasad, in a very written form, which was called by the administration, that you should not break it. But actually, what we say is that it goes away. That letter should always be in the form of a standing order for Panchat. So, it was a little difficult. Then that activity started. Then we met with some students and we made a way that we put a little vermillion here. By putting it, it becomes a religious issue. It is not good in science yet. It was a way of working for us to save this monument. And now it does not break it. It used to be dirty. Apart from worshipping, the tribals and the other locals of the area are also familiar with the scientific importance of these fossils. They regularly work in collecting them and ensuring their safety. I mean, if we were looking for a treasure, the children, the mother, the sister would find a treasure and collect it. This is Pachia. And this is Gai Ki Khur. They would find it and bring it. But they would tell me that this is the treasure. They would leave it. They would keep it. There are many people who are looking for it. There was a mother, and she was blind. She was blind. So, she could not see it. Even then, she could not see it. She could not see it. They would collect it and they would leave it. They would keep it without the treasure. They would keep it. They would keep it. They would bring it later. When we came to Visalsar and we came to know what the scientific importance was, we came to know what the treasure was. We came to know that this was the treasure. We have been working with them since long. So, they would take it out and they would find it. We also came to know what the head was looking for and what he was saying. So, we came to keep a lot of attention. The head told us to find it and keep it safe for ourselves. So, we came to know and we are protecting it today. Earlier, we used to do a stone ball. When it came we used to make it and worship it. So, we would keep it and worship it. We would keep the treasure in the field and place it on the ceiling. When it came to eat the macka, we would break it and make it five times and then we would start eating it. To keep the treasure, it was going on from the beginning. We didn't know what the head was looking for. We didn't know what the egg was. We now know what the dinosaur egg is. So, now we know what the head is. We keep a lot of attention and if we don't even look back even if we look back we won't be able to see the head. We need to keep a lot of attention keeping the head safe. They are convinced If we get all these things, we will get gold, we will get silver, but if these things are finished, then we will not get them again. That is why we are taking care of these things. And we are still thinking about where it is coming from, where it is coming from, where it is not breaking, we are saving it. Those who have been a part of the excavation process often form a lifelong connection with fossils. Gorabhai Chauhan was one of the workers involved in the excavations that took place in 1997. Curious about dinosaurs, he borrowed a book from one of the paleontologists, Shankar Chatterjee, and copied its contents to his notebook. At that time, there was a huge fear. How many species of wild animals were running in the forest in the name of dinosaurs? Of course, during this time, the age of reptiles in the jungle was 100 feet tall and 50 feet tall. Like Argentine, Seismos, Ultrasurus, Grachiosurus and Supersurus. At that time, your father was very alive. When he joined us, your father was alive. At that time, the wood, the stone, the pieces that were taken from the stone, I had never taken it from my father. My father is the owner of this place. I asked my uncle if he had taken it from his father. He said no. But your uncle is the owner of this place. Why don't you take all the property from the village? If I don't take it from my father, I won't take any stone. If I don't take it from my father, I won't take it. Because your village is the owner of this property. Many students in the area started collecting fossils at a young age. Some of them are still involved in fossil conservation. First of all, we used to go to the Stone Tours to search for them. We used to collect them. It was free time. We used to spend half an hour between 2.30 and 2.30. After that, we started going to the next sites. On Sundays, Saturdays and holidays. On holidays, we started going to the fields. After that, we went to the dinosaur sites. We used to go there. We used to drive cars. Mostly, we used to drive cars. The driver used to close our site. After that, we used to drive cars. We used to go there and collect them ourselves. After that, we started going to the children. We had passed out at that time. We used to take the children to the school together to collect them. We used to show them that this is what happens. We study the paleontology. We collect the fossils. After collecting them, we place them in a particular place. There is very little economic source. We want to study the paleontology. If there is no economic source, we collect them. We have to invest in the work that we do. Government or other agencies can't help us. My mind is in this field. But there is no future. I have seen it for the past 5-6 years. But there is no economic source. There is a financial problem to study. Some say that they don't let girls go out. Some say that they have a friend. But they don't let them go out. Unavailability of options and resources for education is an institutional problem. It reflects the general condition of Central Indian universities at the moment. Our university is neither Central nor State. We are facing funding problems. UGC has put a ban on recruitment for 3-4 years now. For the last so many years, people are getting retired and there are no new recruitment. Our department is the centre of advanced studies department and one of the earliest departments. Since 1954, we have been one of the best departments in paleontology and stratigraphy. Earlier there were 24 faculty. Now we are almost down to 10 or 11. Out of those, there are only 2 or 3 paleontologists left. In universities, there is a lot of problem of teaching faculty. The most universities and even IITs actually are running at about 50% of the required faculty strength. So we do not have enough teachers here. This problem is perhaps even more acute in universities. So that's one problem. The other problem is in universities, we do not have adequate infrastructure for carrying out research. Whereas in research institutes, infrastructure is not a problem. We have most of the equipments and instruments that we need to do our research. There are very few colleges where we have knowledge. The third thing is that we need to guide ourselves so that we can tell ourselves about a good dream and work with it. These fossils and the sites where they are found have immense scientific importance and commercial potential. Despite that, they have been ignored and neglected by the government. Very little has been done to conserve them, promote their research and showcase them to the world. In 81, after the site was discovered, between 81 and 97, a lot of vandalism did take place. A lot of fossils got stolen, eggs got stolen and they were being sold. But after 97 also when we got the site and all barricaded, because we had no guards at the site, we had no people manning the area. They were not here to protect. So at that time also in spite of the barricades a lot of fossils were being stolen and were being sold. Not that it's a big market in India, but there were some buyers and that was a very sorry state because a lot of good specimens have got lost in the process. So that's going to be very difficult when you're actually going to do the research now in the future and these important pieces are gone. So it's like losing a very important piece of a puzzle. So how can you make the whole puzzle if there are some important pieces missing? To the best of my knowledge, there is no law in this country that protects fossils. As of now, anybody can go to a fossil site and collect fossils and just take away. Unlike in many other countries where they have specific laws actually as to who can collect fossils, who can study fossils. There have been multiple incidents of theft of eggs and other bones from the Balasunor site. So from this rock you can see by the cut marks here that this whole portion of a rock which had eggs inside the whole portion was taken away. But two or three of the eggs are still remaining but the other eggs which were in that portion they got stolen. So the whole rock which was still here where this bush is small little shrub is till there this rock was there which contained some of the eggs. So the whole thing was stolen. No, we don't know who did it because you see even though the area was fenced off we didn't have adequate patrolling and we don't have the stringent laws which would kind of put people behind bars for stealing eggs because for a layman these are not eggs, they are just stones. And I think India does need very stringent laws when it comes to the preservation and protection of fossils. In one case which occurred around 7 to 8 years ago the theft was done in a precise manner with the use of sophisticated tools. See you can yourself be the judge. How beautifully they have been stolen. Who do you suspect? No idea. I don't know. As I mentioned this it was sophisticated instruments but nonetheless they left the eggshell there. Can you see the eggshell? You can see that's just another layer. Like in coconut there is no layer of cream. You can see that layer. That's the eggshell. Like that's the inside of the shell, outside you can see what. I was saying that if someone comes then if someone wants to buy an egg does anyone get it available here? No. The raioli that you went to they don't have it but they don't have it. They don't even have it. It's only in raioli. There are people in raioli who still sell it. But if you take all this then they think that this is the head of the government. That's why you didn't give it. You can give it if you want. They still sell it. It's not like that. It's difficult for you. It takes a lot of time. If you were traveling for a couple of days you would have found it. It's not like that. Without a camera. We went there. We were actually looking for some nesting sites because Harshra is doing her PhD. So we wanted to see the sites. And then we were waiting there to we went inside the park and then after that somebody came and said that you are looking for the eggs. He said yes. Then he said if you want I can bring one. So then he said he brought the egg actually. And it's half egg which is cut. And he said 5000. Fossils are also lost in other ways. Where there is no encroachment from villagers or no mining industry, cement factory or coal mining taking place there is no problem. But wherever there is this lignite or coal factory or cement factory these people just come and remove the overburden from fossil sites and then dump these materials somewhere else. This is a major challenge. The other challenge that I see is that when fossils are studied when the paleontologist retires from his service these fossils are just left unattended. They are left orphaned. So there is no proper place no national repository for these fossils where they can be permanently stored. I am going to retire after 5 years and all my collections all the specimens that I have collected where will they go? So because once I leave people who are here they may not be interested in these things they may just dump them somewhere because they need space. So ultimately they will be lost. So some of them are very important because these are the specimens holotypes or the type specimens for the new species that I have made. So if they are lost what will happen? I mean in future somebody wants to study those fossils they will not be there. So for that we need a sort of place a repository. So that is not there in India. That is the main problem. So most of the people it happened with many people even in recent times that their specimens were finally thrown away. See what is losses in the sense because we could not yeah a lot of samples are not gone now they are all gone so we don't know I mean how much we have lost but we have lost quite a lot. So this museum was commissioned by the tourism department of Gujarat and it got ready by 2011 but from that day it was just an empty shell what you see right now is all a lot of renovation work going on so for the empty shell now they are filling it up very soon with exhibits and models of dinosaurs everything related to dinosaurs and the historic era so as you can see a lot of work is going on but a lot of initial work is still left to be done this year we have proposed new gates because it is such a huge area it is such a large area we require gates especially at the hatcheries and even at the main entrance we require slightly bigger gates we have also proposed a new parking space it has been approved from the district level it is up for approval in Gandhi Nagar a parking space so that the cars the vehicles don't go inside the fossil park because impact can damage the fossils also additionally basic facilities like drinking water toilets all of sitting areas all of these things are being planned at the preliminary level at the park I have come from Baroda to see what is Baroda I had studied before that dinosaurs in Balasunur which is popular in the world heritage so we have vacations so we come here to see the real in Balasunur we came to know that the real which is popular in the world heritage and what is there it is too much we are angry because the government should take care of it and develop the development of the area there is no water there is no water there is a lot of shop there is no hotel near the fossil site in Dhar a museum was constructed two decades ago here the story of fossil conservation in Dhar district there was a lot of work on marine fossil on marine invertebrates there was a lot of work 60-70 years ago there was work but with research there was no problem with the conservation of fossil sites this is the story in 1992 I was doing master degree building but the purpose was not to do research we have to develop a park fossil is very beautiful and when you see it you will also want to collect it so as soon as we start something like this I had a lot of fossil it was a very beautiful diversity on a normal basis it was a threat and we just wanted where there is a lot of fossil rich area to be protected so this was done in 1996 at that time Dr. Rajesh Rajora was a collector we submitted a proposal that these are the sites and you can naturally protect them so we gave them planning and the DF Madam Samita Rajora visited many sites and she was very interested and she was very supportive so she said why do you keep it here it is a tourist place people will be able to see it but it does not have much to show anymore when tourists come it looks like less things if there are more things then there will be more maintenance if tourists come then our shop will also go here I kept my heart I kept it here I had made Gulab Karib so big in 5 years so many flowers made it so beautiful so what you don't want to know means outside that you feel good here it has been around 10-15 years what happened? the water was over we were working we were working we were doing good we did good maintenance after that we gave our shop after that there was nothing no one was paying attention the budget was over the Janpat Panchayat is a local government body which was given the duty of maintaining the museum but they do not have the funds to maintain it I told them the season of rain for tourists in more than a year in the season of 2-3 months 3-4000 the income of it is not much from the ticket the rest of the time it was the same there is nothing else nothing else whether it was his son or the dinosaur if it was then it would work from where? from the district from the district from the district so it is a big job so they do it and the rest of the work the income of the ticket we give it we give it from the same ticket and the next time we give it they do it they do it and when the money comes they pay it how much money from the other side? no money from the district the money of the ticket I have never seen no money from the district there are only 2 men employed to work in the museum Ashok Veeran's day I do it in the night and my responsibility is here the responsibility of the dinosaur to look at the eggs the small things to look at the plants I take care of the whole day and night the whole we have no other 2 men we have to work very hard in the rain but there are too many to look at they have to take care of everything the responsibility is for themselves it is very difficult because what can I do and I have less salary after that everyone has to burn people fight they take the ticket people give 5 rupees then we take care after that we say in the rain for a month then we close it no one is ready to pay because of little security precious eggs have been stolen from here as well the local authorities here have little understanding of the importance of fossils funds are unlikely to be allocated to a museum when there are more populations of the people living here there is little scope for progress without the involvement of paleontologists and government science departments this lack of involvement is also reflected in the museum information plates despite being a government sanctioned science museum some of the ideas here are pseudo scientific the people who have involved themselves in the conservation process have managed to protect many fossils but they have also brought in their own ideas created with fossils these ideas don't always comply with established scientific facts so that you can come with the vision of life with the fossils secondly, if you have an old science tradition then how it is taken is what common people think science should take that tradition and our records should take that record we wanted to do something on the old paleontology but it should be made by the agency because it is a religious issue something else but look at the people's interest you do a very good job and there is no one to see it so what is that work and you do a small work and the whole world is affected people's interest so we do work for people we do science for people this is the tradition of technology and all the stories that are mentioned why don't we show them so that they keep their place so for that we wanted to make a museum we wanted to make a very beautiful statue the scientific and their iconic icons and people come and for the religion which we talk about our nature, faith and science is very important so we are going to do that we are talking about your pharaonic paleontology because you have a big idea so you keep a lot of importance for it so you have never thought of taking help from such a religious organization because for them there will be a lot of importance for this look, I don't understand that I see a lot of banners which are worth lakhs then there are a lot of religious activities that are done by people in religion which takes a lot of time I don't ask for anything in front of everyone but I keep telling them that as I tell you that I will tell you a small thing there is a place near Bagh it is described by a great heart there is a lot of rain the clouds have been shining for a long time the light was shining it was visible in the whole sea there is a mountain to lose the shark I have visited the whole of Narbada I don't find the fossil of the shark if I have written about the shark I will write about this place so the shark is described there is a lot of pebble stones which are made of rain there is a lot of rolling stones the whole geology is described and with the references and with the fossils we can tell that we have seen the fossils in the land I have the Bagh caves the Bagh caves here there is a river called Bagni and there is a elephant universe you can see everywhere in temples there is a elephant there are a lot of icons Kirtupurusha so we can tell you very easily about the geology the elevation of the temple we can see the whole geology and its history we can describe with our own experience so what you are saying we have done all this but without asking or we should start the small land or at Narbada Kinar where we help to make a monument so in this way there are no such people this low pace of development is leading to some amount of disenchantment in the locals who have been working for the protection of fossils and I sometimes I feel very disheartened because this is considered to be the world's third largest dinosaur fossil excavation site second largest hatchery and still there is so much of negativity or so much of step motherly treatment step daughterly treatment being meted out to this fossil park considering its such a huge potential in terms of tourist or paleontological aspects we have international tourists visiting here so many times I do feel that why are we sidelined why is the work not happening at the pace it should happen it's happening but not at the pace it should happen I mean I've waited for 21 years for this site to come up the museum has been ready since 2011 but as I mentioned bygones be bygones and I would like to focus on what's happening today and what's going to happen tomorrow seeing all this development here now from what I've seen before I think I'm happy but still I'll be very quickly because people are coming they definitely are getting disappointed because there is nothing to see right now this is a place so the government doesn't have any knowledge of this for the villagers this is the first of all after that in those years it was like in our village and the other villagers were like this that the villagers will get a job they'll be happy but nothing has happened the locals who have been working for protection and preservation of fossils have gone through many struggles but they have persisted in their efforts for years and continue to do so the students here understand the importance of fossils so they give hope for the future ma'am actually with our science we won't let them waste we'll have to save them so we went to the side and saved them India's fossil record is not just restricted to dinosaurs it goes much beyond that to protect it a lot still needs to be done