New Delhi: A 150 million-year-old dinosaur’s footprint has reportedly been stolen from Jaisalmer city of Rajasthan.
A team of an international group of scientists had discovered two footprints while exploring the hills located in the Thaiyat village of Jaisalmer district in 2014.
Nearly 20 scientists had marked and secured the footprints before publishing the discovery in 2015.
About the alleged theft, a scientist regretted the authorities’ lack of interest in the case. He said: “We have written to the district administration and other Rajasthan state authorities to protect such findings on numerous occasions but in vain. Our pleas were ignored and rejected. As a result, these rare footprint marks remain stolen,” according to media reports.
The findings suggested that the dinosaur was approximately three meters high and five to seven meters wide. The stolen footprints were the 30cm claw marks. “It is disheartening to learn since the footprint marks were discovered and identified after tremendous hard work,” the scientist added.
According to an official, “A visiting student or explorer might have attempted the theft by picking the rock containing the dinosaur footprints. It took us a month to realize the theft.
However, a team of officials is actively working on finding the marks.
(Avya Mathur)