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SAN FRANCISCO: Jan 22, 2004 - (PNS) - Pakistan has gained another important position in the history of earth as scientists have discovered and unearth biggest mammal on earth from Pakistan at Balochistan province. The discovery is result of painstaking work of French team working here for the last two years. I presentation show was done in Islamabad regarding this mammal and French Embassy a special reception in this regarding on Thursday.
Here is the abstract of speech of Charge de affairs of French Embassy on this occasion.
"I am very happy, in my capacity of Chargee d'affaires of the French Embassy to host this reception in honour of Professor Jean-Loup Welcomme who is working particularly in collaboration with the Pakistan Museum of Natural History, the Pakistan Science Foundation.
It is in 2000 that the first scientific contacts with the Pakistani counterparts were established, concluded 2 years later by an agreement that still hold today, formalizing the relations between the Pakistan Museum of Natural History and the Laboratory of Palaeontology of the University of Montpellier III.
The work accomplished by Professor Welcomme, his colleagues, and the Pakistanis scientists is simply exceptional. M. Welcomme started his research in Balochistan in 1994. He was the first foreign scientist to conduct research in the Bugti territory since 1910. He discovered in 1999, in the Bugti hills, of the biggest mammals which ever lived on earth, the Balouchitere. May I recall that it is a revolution in the knowledge regarding the pre-history of the region. Recently, a book telling the adventure of the Mission francaise de Palaeontology, in the Bugti Hills has been published. Let me pay also a tribute to the Bugti leaders who have facilitated the works for the benefit of Human Knowledge.
The discovery of the Balouchitere has generated new projects yet to be implemented. We hope, first of all that both the Museums of Natural History in Islamabad and in Paris, will be we to realize a casting of the skeleton which would be placed in the 'Galerie de 1'evolution' in Paris.
Pakistan have a lot to teach to the world about its own history. We, French, do hope that we will be part of this adventure. Let us think that this evening is the beginning of a new success for the French Pakistani cooperation and that new projects will emerge in the stray future that will lead each of us to question repeatedly; what we think we know about this planet."
That is the type of discovery that never ceases to amaze me. Does anyone know any other details about this? What about some sort of description of the mammal, or to what Class or Family it belongs?
The news article seemed to be pretty sparse on such data; I think it was more concerned with the PR angle than the scientific.
We'll have to wait until something is published or when a non-Pakistani news site picks up the story.
I worked with a guy from Denver a year ago whod spent virtually his whole life in Makran studying the evolution of the whale; apparently the whale predecessor (a hippo like creature) is best preserved in the Eocene deposits on the coast.
He was quite upset at the post 9/11 security issue and was itching to get back. I know several other people very active in palaeontology in Pakistan; it is a world class site by all accounts for not only mammals but reptiles too.
I've had the pleasure of doing a couple of field trips there and can testify that there a few rock exposures of the Pre-Cambrian better observed than in the salt range in the north of Pakistan.
All round it's a great place for geology and palaeontology; lets hope the place gets the exposure it deserves and a more stable security environment to draw in the worlds specialists.
I never knew that Pakistan was such an interesting place regarding geology/paleontology. Of course, it makes sense if I think about it - there are remarkable discoveries from Asia all the time in terms of fossil evidence. Since I live on the East Coast here in the states, we do not have the type of dinosaur evidence one would find in places like Colorado. However, there are many trilobite, brachiopod, gastropod, and other marine fossils here in my state. Of course, we are most famous for our coal deposits and large amount of tree fern fossils. It just isn't the same as discovering the BIG stuff!
Well, our official state fossil is Lyginopteris , which is a seed fern/tree fern from the Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) Period. It's also a fact that our State Gem is actually a fossil as well - Lithostrotionella (not positive of that spelling). That is a tabulate coral from the Early Carboniferous (Mississippian) Period. I believe it was selected as the state gem due to the fact that most of those fossil corals were permineralized as quartz - very beautiful, but found only in the mountains of the state. What about your area - what is there? Anyone else out there with "rocks in their heads"?
Well they don't have state/county fossils as such in the UK or district fossils in Egypt.
But the most famous in Egypt would be the prehistoric Whale Bassilosaurus which looks more like a sea serpent about 15m long.
There's a 'whale horizon' here in the Eocene deposits of the desert with the fossilised remnants of over 500 whales found in the same spot (Whale Valley). Probably a shallow estuary or embayment in the past, a hot spot for getting beached.
The UK is famous for all sorts of fossils, I used to collect a bit in my youth my best specimen is of a Cretaceous Ammonite about 60cm across. But I have everything ranging from Goniatites to Trilobites to over a dozen prehistoric shark teeth of varying species.
I have a much bigger rock/mineral collection, which now is part of a rockery in my mums garden.
Originally posted by anahndi:
Does anyone know any other details about this? What about some sort of description of the mammal, or to what Class or Family it belongs?
Yeah. He belonged to the homosapien class of the species, originally from the balochistan region, and later migrated to Sindh in search of food and water. While standing upright, he was in the 7 feet something region. People affectionately called him Allam Channa. He's extinct now.
Perhaps it is not a mammal at all - perhaps it is one of those thick-headed dinos ---- Paki - cephalosuarus? 
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