Shivalik Fossil Park

It has a collection of prehistoric vertebrate fossils and skeletons recovered from the upper and middle Siwaliks geological formations of sandstones and clay at Suketi.

The park has a display of the fossil finds and an open-air exhibition of six life-sized fiberglass models of extinct mammals in a recreation of the Sivalik Hills environment of the Plio-Pleistocene era (circa 2.5 million years).

[5][6][7] The exhibits in the park are used to generate scientific interest among the public, and facilitate special international studies by visiting research scholars from all over the world.

[7] The park is named after the Suketi village where it is located, at the site where the fossils were found, in the Markanda River valley, at the foot of the Himalayas.

[5][6][8] The Saketi Park has a unique feature, in a miniature form, of the prehistoric biological record of the Upper Siwalik rocks, similar to those found in the Patwar Plateau and adjacent hills, also in Mangla dam areas in the region.

The hippopotamus model, life-size and similar to its modern counterpart, has six incisors with a comparatively larger mouth, but with a small brain cavity, longer lower jaw, and legs like a pig.

[6][8][13][14] 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.

[15] Exhibits also include an Indian postage stamp with images of two elephants and tusks, issued in 1951 on the occasion of the centenary of the Geological Survey of India.