An international team of paleontologists A single fingerprint left by a dinosaur the size of a cat was discovered in China About 100 million years ago.
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The Researcher The University of Queensland Anthony Romelio was part of the team that investigated the track, It was originally found by Associate Professor Lida Xing of China University of Geosciences.
“This imprint was made by an armored, herbivorous dinosaur widely known as Stegosaurus, the family of dinosaurs that includes the famous Stegosaurus. He said in a statement that this small dinosaur like Stegosaurus might have had spines on its tail and bony plates on its back as an adult.”
“With a footprint of less than six centimeters, it is the smallest stegosaurus footprint known in the world. It contrasts sharply with other Stegosaurus tracks that have been found at the Chinese Trail site measuring up to 30 cm, and tracks in places like Broome in Western Australia, where it is possible.” Measure up to 80 cm.
Small footprint described in the journal PaliosAnd the It has similar properties to those of other stegosaurids With three finger marks short, wide and round.
Cat-sized stegosaurus rehabilitation. Photo: University of Queensland.
However, the researchers found that The impression was not as long as the larger analog footprints detected at tracking sites, Indicating that the young stegosaurus had a different behavior.
Romelio said: “Stegosaurus usually walked its butts on the ground, just like humans, but on all fours, creating long footprints.”
“The little evidence shows that this dinosaur was moving with its heels raised from the ground, as a bird or cat does today. Previously, we had only seen shortcuts like these when dinosaurs walked on two legs.”
Xing said it was It is plausible that the little Stegosaurus is walking on its toes. “This may be possible because this is the case and position of the ancestors of most dinosaurs, but the stegosaurus can also switch to walking on its heels with age,” he said.
“A whole bunch of clues from these small effects will provide us with an answer to this question, but unfortunately we only have one fingerprint,” he added.
Finding small clues in crowded evidence sites will be a challenge for investigators. “ Footprints made by small armored dinosaurs are much rarer than those made by other groups of DinosaursDiego Xing.
“Now that our study has identified nine different dinosaur footprint sites from this area, we’re going to look closely to see if we can find more of these small footprints.”
With information from Europa Press
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