Balasinor Vadasinor Vadsol | |
---|---|
City | |
Nickname: Land of Dinosaurs | |
Coordinates: 22°57′N73°20′E / 22.95°N 73.33°E | |
Country | India |
State | Gujarat |
District | Mahisagar |
Elevation | 72 m (236 ft) |
Population (2011) [1] | |
• Total | 39,330 |
Language | |
• Official | Gujarati [2] |
• Additional official | Hindi [3] |
Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
PIN | 388255 |
Telephone code | 02690 |
Vehicle registration | GJ 07 to GJ35 |
Balasinor, also known as Vadasinor, is a city located in the Mahisagar district of Gujarat, India. The city was formerly part of Balasinor State, a princely state ruled by the Babi dynasty, from September 1758 until its accession to India in June 1948. [4]
Balasinor State was founded in the 18th century. The rulers were titled Nawab Babi. [5] boasts a rich history and unique heritage. Once a princely state under Presidencies and provinces of British India, it was ruled by the Babi dynasty, descendants of the Pathan rulers of Gujarat, who played a significant role in the region's politics. Balasinor is internationally famous for its Dinosaur Fossil Park in Raiyoli village [6] , which houses one of the largest collections of dinosaur fossils in India, including eggs and bones from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Often referred to as the "Jurassic Park of India, Indroda Dinosaur and Fossil Park" the site has fossils of species like the Rajasaurus narmadensis. The town’s cultural fabric reflects a confluence of Islamic and Hindu traditions, evident in its historical mosques, palaces, and temples. Additionally, the Balasinor Royal Family, particularly Princess Aaliya Sultana Babi [7] , has actively promoted the town's history and its fossil park, boosting its tourism potential and preserving its legacy.
Balasinor is located at 22°57′N73°20′E / 22.95°N 73.33°E , on the National Highway Number 47 and the Gujarat State Highway Number 2.
As of 2011 Indian census, Balasinor had a total population of 39,330, of which 20,282 were males and 19,048 were females. The population within the age group of 0 to 6 years was 4,946. The total number of literates in Balasinor was 30,314, which constituted 77.1% of the population with male literacy of 81.3% and female literacy of 72.5%. The effective literacy rate of 7+ population of Balasinor was 88.2%, of which male literacy rate was 93.8% and female literacy rate was 82.2%. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes population was 3,603 and 331 respectively. Balasinor had 7591 households in 2011. [1]
As of the 2001 Indian census, Balasinor had a population of 33,704. It had a literacy rate of 70.5% and a ratio of 940 women for every 1000 men. 12.6% of the population was between the ages of 0 and 6. [8]
According to Chambers's Concise Gazetteer of the World, from 1914, the population of Balasinor town was approximately 9,000 at the time.
In 1981, palaeontologists stumbled upon dinosaur bones and fossils during a regular geological survey of this mineral-rich area. They found dinosaur egg hatcheries and fossils of at least 13 species of which the most important discovery was that of a carnivorous abelisaurid theropod named Rajasaurus narmadensis, a previously unknown predator that was 25 to 30 feet long and two-thirds the size of the Tyrannosaurus rex . [9] It lived in the Late Cretaceous period. [10] [11]
The news of the find was welcomed in the neighbouring villages. Many residents brought the fossilised eggs home and worshipped them. Since then excavations have turned up a veritable trove of dinosaur remains—eggs, bones, a skeleton which is now kept in a Calcutta (Kolkata) museum—bringing hordes of scientists and tourists to Balasinor. [10]
Researchers, after piecing together the evidence in Raiyoli, believe that Gujarat is home to one of the largest clutches of dinosaur hatcheries in the world. At least 13 species of dinosaurs lived there, for more than 100 million years until their extinction 65 million years ago. The soft soil made hatching and protecting eggs easier for the animals. Many researchers call them the best-preserved eggs in the world after the ones found in Aix-en-Provence in France. [10]
These fossilised dinosaur remains have triggered what tourism officials of the Gujarat state call "Dinosaur Tourism". Princess Aaliya also called the Dinosaur Princess conducts guided tours of the fossil park. [10] [11]
Another notable discovery in the village of Dholi Dungri, bordering Balasinor taluka, was that of Sanajeh indicus , a primitive madtsoiid snake that likely preyed on sauropod dinosaur hatchlings and embryos. [11] [12]
Troodontidae is a clade of bird-like theropod dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous. During most of the 20th century, troodontid fossils were few and incomplete and they have therefore been allied, at various times, with many dinosaurian lineages. More recent fossil discoveries of complete and articulated specimens, have helped to increase understanding about this group. Anatomical studies, particularly studies of the most primitive troodontids, like Sinovenator, demonstrate striking anatomical similarities with Archaeopteryx and primitive dromaeosaurids, and demonstrate that they are relatives comprising a clade called Paraves.
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Rajasaurus is a genus of carnivorous abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of India, containing one species: Rajasaurus narmadensis. The bones were excavated from the Lameta Formation in the Gujarat state of Western India, probably inhabiting what is now the Narmada River Valley. It was formally described by palaeontologist Jeffrey A. Wilson and colleagues in 2003 based on a partial skeleton comprising the braincase, spine, hip bone, legs, and tail–a first for an Indian theropod. The dinosaur likely measured 6.6 metres (22 ft), and had a single horn on the forehead which was probably used for display and head-butting. Like other abelisaurids, Rajasaurus was probably an ambush predator.
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The Indroda Dinosaur and Fossil Park in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India, is a park that houses fossilized remains and petrified eggs of dinosaurs. It is a man-made fossil park and not the actual nesting grounds where the dinosaurs lived. The eggs and fossils on display here are from the world's 3rd-largest dinosaur fossil excavation site and 2nd-largest hatchery at Raiyoli, Balasinor, Gujarat. The Park was set up by the Geological Survey of India and is the only dinosaur museum in the country.
Maiasaura is a large herbivorous saurolophine hadrosaurid ("duck-billed") dinosaur genus that lived in the area currently covered by the state of Montana and the Canadian province of Alberta. in the Upper Cretaceous Period, from 86.3 to 70.6 million years ago. Maiasaura peeblesorum is the state fossil of Montana.
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Gandhinagar district is an administrative division of Gujarat, India, whose headquarters are at Gandhinagar, the state capital. It was organized in 1964.
Abelisauridae is a family of ceratosaurian theropod dinosaurs. Abelisaurids thrived during the Cretaceous period, on the ancient southern supercontinent of Gondwana, and today their fossil remains are found on the modern continents of Africa and South America, as well as on the Indian subcontinent and the island of Madagascar. Isolated teeth were found in the Late Jurassic of Portugal, and the Late Cretaceous genera Tarascosaurus, Arcovenator and Caletodraco have been described in France. Abelisaurids possibly first appeared during the Jurassic period based on fossil records, and some genera survived until the end of the Mesozoic era, around 66 million years ago.
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The Lameta Formation, also known as the Infratrappean Beds, is a sedimentary geological formation found in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh, India, associated with the Deccan Traps. It is of the Maastrichtian age, and is notable for its dinosaur fossils.
Sanajeh is a genus of late Cretaceous madtsoiid snake from western India. A fossil described in 2010 from the Lameta Formation was found coiled around an egg and an adjacent skeleton of a 50 cm (19 in) long sauropod dinosaur hatchling. This suggests that the snake preyed on hatchling sauropods at nesting sites.
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Rahiolisaurus is a genus of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur which existed in India during the Late Cretaceous period. It was described in 2010, based on fossils recovered from the Lameta Formation in the Indian state of Gujarat. These fossils include elements from at least seven different individuals and are believed to have been from the Maastrichtian stage, sometime between 70 and 66 million years ago, making it one of the last non-avian dinosaurs known in the fossil record. Despite representing a variety of different growth stages, all recovered fossils from the locality indicate a single species, the type species Rahiolisaurus gujaratensis.
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