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| Saturday, June 23, 2001 |
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STRANGE as it may seem, but it is true that many animals like giraffe and hippopotamus, whose names are synonymous with Africa today, were natives of the Shivalik hills. At one time, these hills were home to 35 kinds of elephants. But now only two kinds — Asian and African — are found in the entire world. Fossils excavated from these hills hold testimony to the fact that these hills were the abode of a large number of elephants, hippos, giraffes, apes, tigers, crocodiles and land tortoises. The oldest known stone tool, estimated to be three million years’ old, was also found here. The list of unique
animals which lived here includes the prehistoric giant elephant, whose
tusks were 10 feet long. He treaded this area in the company of giant
tortoise, which had a thick protective shell three metres wide. The
largest known land tortoise, this animal inhabited these hills in large
numbers about 2.5 million years ago. The other animals during those
times included the queer-looking giraffe, which had enormous horns, and
the sabretoothed tiger, which could open its jaw at right angles to
inflict deep wounds on its prey, with its very long upper canines. |
The history of excavation in these hills can be traced to the year 1832 when Scottish palaeontologist Huge Falconer and Cautley began to excavate fossils there. These have been housed in various museums like Natural History Museum, New York; Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University; British Museum, London, and National Museum, Calcutta. Worldwide attention was focused on the Shivalik hills when a large number of fossils of ramapithecus and dryopithecus were found there. Ramapithecus, which existed 14 million years ago, is believed to be the oldest known hominid — the ancestor of present-day Man. Consisting of about 6000 metres of layered rocks — some as old as 25 million years — these hills contain one of the world’s richest collection of mammalian fossils. They have helped palaeontologists solve the mysteries of evolution of prehistoric life and deduce the details about the climate and environment of periods dating back to the Jurassic era, nearly 8.5 million years ago. To preserve the fossils and to provide scientific knowledge to people in general, the Geological Survey of India constructed a fossil park at Saketi in the Shivalik hills in 1969. Its scientists excavated a number of fossils, and in 1973, started fabricating life-size fibreglass models of prehistoric animals, which inhabited the area about 2-3 million years ago. These were placed at the very sites from where the fossils were found. But not many people are even aware that such a park exists. Situated near Kala Amb, at a distance of about 60 km from Chandigarh, it could have been developed to attract both tourists and nature lovers. But people at the helm of affairs have not tapped its potential Consequently, it is gradually waning into oblivion, like the animals that lived here. |
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