Palaeontology: A divine stone was probably a dinosaur egg

In central India, a stone ball revered as sacred and worshipped as a divine object by a family for generations has turned out to be an egg of a titanosaur. Mahesh Thakkar of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP) in Lucknow said that this discovery attests to the origin of a herbivorous titanosaur in the region millions of years ago.

The researchers came across this extraordinary fossil when they met with farmer Vesta Mandloi from the village of Padlya and neighbouring communities. This was in connection with the planned opening of a geological park in the Madhya Pradesh state region, as explained by Thakkar. It is learnt that Mandloi and other farmers regard these stone balls as symbols of the Hindu god Shiva and worship them as protectors of the land and livestock.

The researchers also found dinosaur eggs in other neighbouring communities, which were also revered. This area is known for its rich fossil assemblage, which has already yielded a variety of dinosaur bones, teeth and eggs. For example, in January, the journal PLOS ONE reported the discovery of 92 clutches of titanosaurs totalling 256 eggs, with some of these nests located in and around Padlya.

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Sladjan Lazic

Sladjan ist Triops-Züchter und Gründer von Triops Galaxy. Im Jahr 2020 hat er seine Leidenschaft für Urzeitkrebse entdeckt und züchtet seitdem diese faszinierenden Urzeitwesen in heimischer Zucht.

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