Dinosaur Eggs Discovered in Tamil Nadu, Geologists Surprised

After a Periyar University team discovered hundreds of fossilized dinosaur eggs in Tamil Nadu at a nesting site, an excitement assailed Indian geologists who termed it an “exciting find”.

The discovery, first in South India probably, which was made under a stream in the Cauvery river basin region in a small village in  Ariyalur district near Tiruchirapalli, is a  big surprise to geologists because the vicinity of Jabalpur in MP is usaully considered the richest dinosaur field in the country.

The sample of the fossilized eggs, which are likely to be 65 million years old and discovered from what is supposed to be the country’s largest dinosaur nesting site, have been sent to Germany for further research and further verification.

“We went to Ariyalur district based on the information we had. Upon investigation we found these dinosaur eggs in holes. Soon we found them in clusters and realised that these might have been nests,” Ramkumar, head of the Geology Department, Periyar University, told reporters .

It should be noted that research scholars, archaeologists and geologists of the Salem-based University were engaged in the hunt for India’s largest Jurassic nest.

Each egg was about 13 to 20 cm in diameter and they were lying in sandy nests which were of the size of 1.25 metres, Ramkumar said, adding, the spherical eggs in clusters of seven to eight were strewn all over a 2 sq km area.

“It is an exciting find and opens up several exciting possibilities,” said Prof. A D Ahluwalia of Punjab University, Chandigarh. He did not doubt the genuiness of the find since it was traced by geologists from the area. He however said that it is for the scientists to confirm they were dinosaur eggs.

The researchers have requested the Ariyalur district administration to cordon off the site since a similar discovery in Jabalpur led to a plunder of the fossilized treasure.