Ostriches existed in India over 25,000 years ago, molecular evidence shows

Ostrich had inhabited India about 25,000 years ago, a study conducted by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad has found. Ostrich is a flightless bird native to Africa. Well the bird is native to Africa, but it’s egg shell pieces have been found in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh by the geologists and archaeologists.

Some partly fossilized ostrich egg shells were recently studied upon in a DNA study conducted at CCMB.

"We have successfully analysed the ostrich egg shells in our 'ancient DNA' facility and established that the egg shells (found in India) are genetically similar to the African ostrich," CCMB's senior principal scientist Kumarasamy Thangaraj had said recently.

"The carbon dating (of the ostrich egg shells) to determine the age shows that they are at least 25,000 years old," Thangaraj had said. The study was conducted jointly by the scientists of CCMB, Indian Institute of Technology (Roorkee) and others.

The findings of the research have been published in the March 9, 2017, issue of science journal PLOS ONE. The continental drifting of Gondwanaland or Gondwana has been known for the reason behind the origin and evolution of the Ostrich.

Gondwana was a super-continent comprising South America, Arabia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica, India and Madagascar of the present times, around some 150 million years ago. During the Early Cretaceous period - 130 to 100 million years ago, an initial break-up of this super-continent, separated Africa and Indo- Madagascar.

This bio-geographical dispersion led to the hopping of ostriches in Africa through Eurasia through the land route around 20 million years ago. According to the official release, the continental drift theory for the existence of ostriches in India was not scientifically proven.

Further, only morphological pattern of the fragile egg shell pieces is not sufficient to prove the ostrich existence in India. The researchers thus analysed the mitochondrial DNA to come to the conclusion about the existence of ostriches in India, the release added.