Found and Lost: Indian fossil hunters yearn for a safe haven

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Vishal Verma is a 48-year-old fossil-hunter and conservationist who lives in Manavar, a sleepy town in Central India, surrounded by rolling hills of pale limestone and dark volcanic basalt.

Dinosaurs once walked on these lands.

The moonlighting palaeontologist had found numerous breathtaking fossils in his lifetime. But one particular kind eluded him — those of dinosaurs.

This is a tale of triumphs and disappointments. The story of an Indian fossil hunter.