Sun Nov 30 11:18:58 UTC 2025: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ancient Thorny Bamboo Fossil Discovered in India Sheds Light on Ice Age Biodiversity
Imphal, India – November 30, 2025 – Scientists have unearthed groundbreaking fossil evidence in Manipur’s Imphal West district, indicating that thorny bamboo existed in Asia as far back as the Ice Age. The discovery, announced in a government release today, comes from researchers at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP), who found a bamboo stem with distinct thorn scars along the Chirang River.
The fossil, identified as belonging to the Chimonobambusa genus, was meticulously studied in the lab, with researchers comparing its morphology to living thorny bamboo species like Bambusabambos and Chimonobambusa callosa. The findings, published in the journal Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, represent the first fossil evidence of thorniness in bamboo as a defensive mechanism against herbivores during the Ice Age.
What makes this discovery particularly significant is the fossil’s origin from a period when harsh, colder, and drier global climates wiped out bamboo from many regions, including Europe. The fossil suggests that Northeast India served as a critical refuge for bamboo, allowing it to thrive amidst Ice Age conditions.
Geologist N. Herojit Singh from the Geological Survey of India, part of the discovery team, revealed that the fossil was unearthed in 2021-2022 from silt-rich “quaternary deposits exposed” west of Senjam-Chirang village. Analysis dates the fossil bamboo culm to late Pleistocene sediments in eastern India.
“This research adds a new dimension to our understanding of both bamboo evolution and regional climate history,” the government release stated. “It also emphasizes the role of this part of Asia in safeguarding biodiversity during times of global stress, making the discovery not only a botanical milestone but also an important contribution to palaeoclimatic and biogeographic studies.”
The fragile nature of the thorn scars, which rarely fossilize, makes this discovery all the more remarkable, further solidifying the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot as a key refugium during the Ice Age.
First Piper 