Dinosaur tracks.
The 200-million-year-old footprints found near a beach in Wales revealed that dinosaurs once roamed the area, according to scientists.
Researchers at London’s Natural History Museum began to study the dinosaur footprints after they were sent photos of the possible tracks from an amateur paleontologist who discovered them on a beach in Penarth, Wales. Their findings were published inGeologicalMagazineon Dec. 29.
Dr. Susannah Maidment, a scientist from the museum, explained how the images helped them realize that the 1.6-foot-long footprints could be real.
“We get a lot of enquiries from members of the public for things that could be trackways but many are geological features that can easily be mistaken for them,” Maidment toldCNN. “However, from the photographs, we thought they were a fairly good contender for something that could be tracks and that it would be worth taking a look.”
Scientist now believethe printsare from the Triassic period but cannot say with certainty what type ofdinosaurcreated the tracks. However, they believe it could have been a very early sauropod — or a long-necked dinosaur which was one of the largest dinosaurs on Earth — according toCBS News.
“We don’t know if this species was the track-maker,” Maidment added, “but it is another clue which suggests something like it could have made these tracks.”
The footprints also serve as further evidence of dinosaurs in the U.K. during the Triassic period and reveal more information about the dinosaurs' behaviors, including how they walked and traveled in herds.
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“These types of tracks are not particularly common worldwide, so we believe this is an interesting addition to our knowledge of Triassic life in the U.K.,” he added. “Our record of Triassic dinosaurs in this country is fairly small, so anything we can find from the period adds to our picture of what was going on at that time.”
According to the study, scientists also believe that the number of prints could show that the beach had been a “trample ground” fordinosaurs.
source: people.com
