India’s Fossil Heritage:
India’s fossil heritage is under threat as rare specimens like the 47-million-year-old snake Vasuki indicus risk theft, vandalism, and illegal auctions abroad due to the absence of a national fossil protection law or repository. India preserves fossils from the Precambrian to Cenozoic eras, including earliest plant life, dinosaur nests and eggs, giant snakes like Vasuki indicus, and ancestors of whales (Indohyus). Due to its isolation after separating from Gondwanaland, India’s fossil beds reveal crucial evidence of dinosaur evolution, mammal emergence, and marine transitions after the India–Asia collision. Key Fossil Sites – Rich deposits lie in Kutch (Gujarat), Narmada Valley (Madhya Pradesh), Deccan basalts, and Himalayan foothills, yielding rare vertebrate and invertebrate fossils.
