Talk about the largest “lost and found” item in the world. After 134 years of losing the first ever fossilised remains of a dinosaur unearthed in India, scientists from the Geological Survey of India (GSI) found it in their own backyard, their Kolkata headquarters. The remains of this particular dinosaur was unearthed in the early 19th century, even before the word “dinosaur” was coined. It is the only specimen of its type and is believed to be a window to the world of dinosaurs.
It was discovered in 1828 by Lieutenant-Colonel W.H. Sleeman of the British Army near Jabalpur and had been changing hands till 1877, when it had suddenly gone missing. There was no clue about its whereabouts since then till GSI scientists chanced upon it a couple of months ago as part of an international study on dinosaurs, at the GSI headquarters in Kolkata. According to a GSI report, the specimen is of the Titanosaur Indicus. It is a holotype, which means that it is the only specimen based on which a new group of animals is named.
The original discovery in 1828 was just four years after the first-named dinosaur, the Mega-losaurus, in 1824 and 14 years before the name Dinosauria was coined in 1842. The original specimen, which was not traceable for the last 134 years, was rediscovered by Dr D.M. Mohabey and Dr Subhasis Sen. The remains were lying with the Mesozoic vertebrate fossil collection of Richard Lydekker.