Students from the Zoology Department at Okara University have discovered a 1.5 million-year-old elephant skeleton near Fort Rohtas.
The research is being conducted by the students under the guidance of Dr. Muhammad Adeeb Babar from the University of Okara and Dr. Muhammad Akbar Khan from the University of Punjab in Dina.
Experts, including Chaudhry Abid, have identified the skeleton as belonging to the Stegodon genus of the elephant family Stegodontidae, possibly of the S. Ganesa species. The elephant samples will be temporarily housed in the Punjab University Museum.
This discovery is significant as it represents the second instance of uncovering a tooth of such significant size from The Pakistan Pinjore Formation.
The first occurrence was in 2015 when Dr. Syed Ghayur Abbas from the University of Sialkot made a similar discovery.
Over the past 25 years, several universities and students have discovered seven identifiable elephant teeth.
