A worker digging up clay in a southern England limestone quarry noticed unusual bumps that led to the discovery of a “dinosaur highway” and nearly 200 tracks that date back 166 million years, researchers said Thursday.
Four of the sets of tracks that make up the so-called highway show paths taken by gigantic, long-necked, herbivores called sauropods, thought to be Cetiosaurus, a dinosaur that grew to nearly 60 feet in length.
Workers examine five extensive trackways that formed part of the “dinosaur highway.” University of Birmingham via APAn area where the tracks cross raises questions about possible interactions between the carnivores and herbivores.
Nearly 30 years ago, 40 sets of footprints discovered in a limestone quarry in the area were considered one of the world’s most scientifically important dinosaur track sites.
“The preservation is so detailed that we can see how the mud was deformed as the dinosaur’s feet squelched in and out,” said Duncan Murdock, an earth scientist at the Oxford museum.
Persons:
”, Kirsty Edgar, Emma Nicholls, Duncan Murdock
Organizations:
Oxford, University of Birmingham, ” University of Birmingham, AP, Oxford University Museum of
Locations:
England, Oxfordshire, Birmingham
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