British researchers have unearthed about 200 166-million-year-old dinosaur footprints, believed to be the largest in Britain.
A new documentary from the BBC reveals that a team from the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham discovered an “unusual bump” at a quarry in Oxfordshire, central England, after workers encountered an “unusual bump” while removing clay with a mechanical excavator. He says he made an “exhilarating” discovery.
Professor Kirsty Edgar, a micropalaeontologist at the University of Birmingham, told BBC News: “This is one of the most impressive footprints in terms of scale that I’ve ever seen.” “You can go back in time and imagine what it was like when these giant creatures were just walking around and going about their business.”
The property is home to five extensive railroad tracks, with the longest continuous track spanning approximately 500 feet in length.
Four of the five tracks discovered are thought to have been created by long-necked herbivorous dinosaurs, possibly Setiosaurus.
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The University of Birmingham said the fifth footprint was likely that of a 9-meter-long carnivorous megalosaurus, known for its distinctive three-toed clawed feet.
“It’s rare to see so many animals in one place, and it’s rare to find such a vast path,” Emma Nicholls from Oxford University’s Natural History Museum told AFP. .
The area has the potential to become one of the world’s largest dinosaur footprint sites, he added.
The discovery will feature in the BBC Television documentary Digging for Britain, scheduled to be broadcast on January 8th.
“Exciting” discovery
A 100-strong team led by academics from Oxford and Birmingham excavated the line during a week-long excavation in June.
The new tracks follow a smaller discovery in 1997 when 40 sets were discovered in the area during limestone quarrying, with some tracks reaching 180 meters in length.
The researchers took 20,000 photos of the latest footprints and used aerial drone photography to create a detailed 3D model of the site.
The discovery is expected to provide clues about how dinosaurs interacted with each other, including their size and movement speed.
Duncan Murdoch from Oxford Museum told the BBC: “It’s very exciting to know that this one dinosaur walked the surface of this earth and left its very mark.” “I can imagine them pulling their feet out of the mud.”
Emma Nichols/Associated Press
Richard Butler, a palaeontologist at the University of Birmingham, said it could be a coincidence of weather that the footprints were so well preserved.
“We don’t know exactly… but maybe a storm came and deposited a lot of sediment on top of the footprints, preserving them instead of just washing them away,” he says. Said.
Gary Johnson, the quarry worker whose careful observation led to the excavation, said the experience was mesmerizing.
“I thought I was the first person to see them and it was so surreal. It was a really slightly chilling moment,” he told BBC News.
The discovery was announced just months after a team of paleontologists made the discovery. matching dinosaur footprints They are now two distinct continents separated by thousands of miles of ocean.
Engineers working to prevent flooding on Britain’s coast last year “A dramatic discovery” Experts have discovered dinosaur footprints that they believe may belong to Mantellisaurus, a type of dinosaur that had only three toes on each foot and moved on its hind legs.
