HindustanTimes.com

Tuesday, August 26, 2003

New carnivorous dinosaur species discovered in India

Agence France-Presse
Mumbai, August 13

Rajasaurus narmadensis, a new species of dinosaur has been identified by a
Chicago-based palaeontologist, Paul Sereno, based on the bones collected
from central and western parts of India.

Paul, along with his team has also for the first time reconstructed the
dinosaur skull based on the bones collected by Indian palaeontologists over
the past several years.

Disclosing the find at a media conference today, Paul, a National Geographic
Explorer, said the new species was a unique dinosaur found only in India so
far.

"The new specie named Rajasaurus  appears to be a stocky dinosaur with an
unusual head crest. From the heavy weight of the hip bone we have concluded
that the dinosaur was probably a heavy-meat-eating carnivorous animal," said
Paul.

The 30-feet-long dinosaur with its unusually long horn and a strong exterior
face suggests that it used its head to pound its prey and eat it. However,
its teeth, ironically are much smaller than those found in other dinosaurs.

Believed to be 67-million year old, the Rajasaurus  perhaps appeared towards
the extreme end of the era of dinosaurs and would have moved through the
entire Narmada valley, before the emergence of the Himalayas on the Indian
subcontinent, he said.

"We decided to name the animal Rajasaurus narmadensis which means regal
reptile from Narmada since the bones were found near the Narmada river in
western India," he explains.

Rajasaurus  appears to be related to the species found in Africa, Madagascar
and South America.

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