Did Dinosaurs Exist in Modern Day Assam? | Author: Muhammad Talha Amin Baruah

 

DID DINOSAURS EXIST IN MODERN DAY ASSAM?

By Muhammad Talha Amin Baruah (contact - talhaamin799@gmail.com)

The land of India is where many species of Dinosaurs existed  millions of years ago. Most remain undiscovered even today, though we do know of some species like Rajasaurus, Indosaurus, Jainosaurus, Titanosaurus etc. Have you ever wondered about Dinosaurs that existed in the land of Assam?

There is no doubt that Dinosaurs did exist in Assam millions of years ago. In 2006, Diganta Narzary, a scientist at the National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, discovered a dinosaur egg fossil at Assam's Manas National Park. In 2013, a fossil of a dinosaur was discovered in the Chirang district of Assam. A six feet high skeleton was found on the bank of the Kuklung river by villagers of Nakrapatiguri when they went on a pilgrimage to a temple there. Though there is not much record available on what species of Dinosaur it was, or even if it was a discovery of new species which used to exist here. Some fossils were discovered in the neighbouring states of Assam. For example, in 2021, a team of scientists from the Geological Survey of India (GSI) discovered fossilised bone fragments of sauropod dinosaurs dating back to about 100 million years from the West Khasi Hills district in Meghalaya. This proves that in the modern day Northeastern region, there were indeed many species of Dinosaurs.

Sarat Kr. Phukan and Supriti Barthakur Phukan wrote in the book 'The Great Indian Corridor in the East' (2007) : "As per present estimates the development of life in ancient Assam started not less than 500,000,000 years ago. The existence of Rhinoceros in Assam is a clear pointer to the presence of the early batch of Triceratops Calicomis, a kind of Dinosaur from the Cretaceous period. A thorough study on the reptiles shows that Mesozoic Mammals were also present in this region." The existence of one horned Rhinos is often theorized as a proof of existence of a species of Triceratops in the land of Assam but it needs to be clarified that this is merely a theory and lacks scientific evidence to back it. Ralph Izzard's book 'The Hunt for the Buru' (1951) begins with an "Introduction" followed by two verbatim pre-existing reports. The first of these was entitled "The Burus of the Apa Tani Valley: a traditional account of the survival within historic times of a large aquatic reptile in the Outer Himalayas of Assam" by By J. P. Mills, M.A., C.S.I., C.I.E., and C. R. S. Stonor. Charles Stonor, who admitted that he had not seen the creature but merely said that if the buru indeed existed, it was a reptile “of the size of an ox, with a prominent snout. It was either a primitive kind of crocodile, or even a dinosaur." It is uncertain and a matter of questioning if Buru actually exists or if it's a mythical creature made up by people. But there is always a possibility that a dinosaur like creature or maybe a descendant species of dinosaurs exists in the Himalayan region of Assam. The description of Buru thus sounds similar to Archosaur. But it should be noted that Archosaurs no longer exist, but a distant common ancestry holder of these Archosaurs are the Komodo Dragons. It is possible that people might have mistaken a giant size Komodo dragon for a mythical creature like 'Buru'. But the fact is that Komodo dragons aren't native to India, but a similar species like Varanus bengalensis exists in the subcontinent. They are mostly known as 'Bengal Monitor' and presumed as a descending species of the extinct dinosaurs. This species can also be found in Kaziranga national park.

The information regarding the existence of Dinosaurs in modern day Assam is very low, possibly due to lack of research, but not completely hollow since from the above mentioned fossil findings, one can clearly understand that dinosaurs did exist here.