- A 'dinosaur highway' containing nearly 200 tracks dating back 166 million years has been discovered in southern England.
- Some of the tracks show the paths taken by the Cetiosaurus, a dinosaur that grew to nearly 60 feet in length. Another group belongs to the megalosaurus, a 30-foot-long predator and the first dinosaur to be scientifically named in two hundred years.
- The findings will be displayed in a new exhibition at Oxford University's Natural History Museum and will be broadcast on the BBC's Digging for Britain program next week.
A worker digging clay in a limestone quarry in southern England noticed unusual outcrops that led to the discovery of a “dinosaur highway” and nearly 200 tracks dating back 166 million years, researchers said Thursday.
The extraordinary discovery, made after a team of more than 100 people excavated at the Dewars Farm quarry in Oxfordshire in June, expands on previous discoveries. Paleontology work Researchers at the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham said that fossils found in the area provide greater insights into the Middle Jurassic period.
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“These footprints provide an extraordinary window into… Dinosaur life“It reveals details about their movements, interactions and the tropical environment they inhabited,” said Kirsty Edgar, professor of micropaleontology at the University of Birmingham.
Workers gather around five wide tracks that form part of the “Dinosaur Highway” at the Dewars Farm quarry in Oxfordshire, England. (University of Birmingham via AP)
Four of the sets of tracks that make up the so-called highway show paths taken by giant, long-necked herbivores called sauropods, believed to be the Citiosaurus dinosaur that grew to nearly 60 feet long. The fifth group belongs to the Megalosaurus, a ferocious 30-foot-long predator that left a distinctive three-clawed imprint and was the first dinosaur to be scientifically named in two centuries.
The area where the paths intersect raises questions about possible interactions between carnivores and herbivores.
Emma Nicholls, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of California, said: “Scientists have known about and studied megalosaurs for longer than any other dinosaur on Earth, yet these latest discoveries prove that there is still new evidence of these animals out there, just waiting.” “Find it.” Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
Nearly 30 years ago, 40 sets of footprints were discovered in a limestone quarry in the area, and it was considered one of the most important dinosaur footprint sites in the world. But this area is mostly inaccessible now and there is limited photographic evidence because it predates the use of digital cameras and drones to record the findings.
Workers carefully study dinosaur footprints found at the Dewars Farm quarry in Oxfordshire, England. (Emma Nicholls/OUMNH via AP)
The group working on the site this summer took more than 20,000 digital images and used drones to create 3D models of the prints. This collection of documents will aid future studies and could shed light on the size of dinosaurs, how they walked, and the speed at which they moved.
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Duncan Murdock, an earth scientist at the Oxford Museum, said: “The preservation is so detailed that we can see how the clay deformed as the dinosaurs' feet squeezed in and out.” “Along with other fossils such as burrows, shells and plants, we can bring back to life the muddy lake environment that dinosaurs experienced.”
The findings will be displayed in a new exhibition at the museum, and will also be broadcast on the BBC's Digging for Britain program next week.
