![]() History of Shivalik Fossil Park The idea to establish a museum was mooted to preserve the fossil site and the fossils from being indiscriminately extracted and vandalized. It was also intended to provide prehistoric period scientific information to scholars for research. The Geological Survey of India, in close association with the Government of Himachal Pradesh, took the initiative and established the park on 23 March 1974. The park is also maintained by the Geological Survey of India. The mammalian fossils found in the Shiwaliks of this park are one of the world's richest antiquities. ![]() The fiberglass models on display in an open area in the fossil park are of 6 extinct animals. These are: Huge land Tortoise, Gharial, Four Horned Giraffe, Sabre-toothed Cat, large tusked Elephant and Hippopotamus. Museum of Shivalik Fossil Park Many stunning fossil variety is of vertebrates and have been exhibited in the park in a small museum. The exhibits in the museum have a plethora of skeletal remains of different groups of skulls and limbs of mammals, skulls of hippopotamuses, tortoises, gharials and crocodiles, tusks of 22 species of elephants, rocks and charts and paintings related to the several aspects of plants and animals life of the past and present. The stone items on display belong to the Early Palaeolithic Man. The museum also houses antiquities unearthed by ‘Captain Cautley’ in the area, from which he dug out the remains of Asia’s oldest human ancestor. The country’s postage stamp to commemorate the centenary of the Geological Survey of India in 1951 is displayed as well. This stamp has a picture of two elephants with tusks. |
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