- A “dinosaur highway” containing nearly 200 tracks dating back 166 million years has been discovered in southern England.
- Some tracks show the tracks taken by Cetiosaurus, a dinosaur that grew to nearly 60 feet in length. Another set belonged to Megalosaurus, a 30-foot predator and the first dinosaur to be scientifically named two hundred years ago.
- The findings will be featured in a new exhibition at Oxford University’s Natural History Museum and broadcast on the BBC’s ‘Digging for Britain’ program next week.
A worker excavating 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 remarkable discovery, made after a team of more than 100 people excavated the Dewars Farm quarry in Oxfordshire in June, extends previous paleontological work in the area and offers a better insight into the Middle Jurassic period, said researchers from the universities of Oxford and Birmingham.
FIRST GREEN DINOSAUR SKELETON FOUND IN UTAH COULD BE NEW SPECIES, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SAYS
“These footprints offer a remarkable window into the lives of dinosaursrevealing details about their movements, interactions and the tropical environment they lived in,” said Kirsty Edgar, professor of micropaleontology at the University of Birmingham.
Workers gather around five large tracks that formed part of the “dinosaur highway” at the Dewars Farm quarry in Oxfordshire, England. (University of Birmingham via AP)
The four sets of tracks that make up the so-called highway show the paths taken by huge, long-necked herbivores called sauropods, which are thought to be Cetiosaurus, a dinosaur that grew to nearly 60 feet in length. The fifth set belonged to Megalosaurus, a 30-foot ferocious predator that left a distinctive three-clawed footprint and was the first dinosaur to be scientifically named two centuries ago.
The area where the tracks intersect raises questions about possible interactions between carnivores and herbivores.
“Scientists have known and studied Megalosaurus longer than any other dinosaur on Earth, yet these recent discoveries prove that there is still new evidence of these animals waiting to be discovered,” said Emma Nicholls, vertebrate paleontologist at the University’s Museum of Natural History. Oxford.
Almost 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 footprint sites. But the area is now largely inaccessible and there is limited photographic evidence as it predates the use of digital cameras and drones to record finds.
Workers carefully study dinosaur footprints found at the Dewars Farm quarry in Oxfordshire, England. (Emma Nicholls/OUMNH via AP)
A group working at the site this summer took more than 20,000 digital images and used drones to create 3-D models of the footprints. The wealth of documentation will aid future studies and could shed light on the size of the dinosaurs, how they walked and how fast they moved.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER
“The preservation is so detailed that we can see how the mud was deformed as the dinosaur’s feet clicked in and out,” said Duncan Murdock, an earth scientist at the Oxford museum. “Together with other fossils such as burrows, shells and plants, we can bring to life the muddy environment of the lagoon where the dinosaurs walked.”
The findings will be shown in a new exhibition at the museum and also broadcast on the BBC’s ‘Digging for Britain’ program next week.
