This mysterious dinosaur had a limp, revealing ancient footprints

Now in a sub-tropical wetland in Spain, a 5-ton dinosaur walked in shallow water surrounded by a lustful fish. Scientists discovered this moment in prehistoric times from just six preserved footprints left on the limestone of an ancient fossil bed about 129 million years ago, before Madrid.

When paleontologists began studying the strange footprints of La Huerguina formation 6 years ago, they knew their age and they knew that a dinosaur made them. But they weren’t sure that the same animal made them all: left and right footprints show different lengths, as if one toe of the left foot was missing. Poor conservation can also explain inequality. To find the real answer, the researchers used a special 3D scanner to get detailed measurements of each footprint – depth, width and length. They then compared them to another 75 sets of dinosaur footprints around the world.

The tracks of the right foot clearly show three toes, but the tracks of the left foot show only small and irregular impressions where the innermost toe should be (see figure above). Where the trackways of fossilized dinosaurs are usually narrow, with long steps, the trackway that the researchers studied reveals a wide position প্রায় about 45 centimeters apart সহ with a short stride and a large load on the right leg, probably compensating for the injured left leg. But the impressions are consistent enough that they must belong to the same creature, the team reported today Plus one. The researchers estimated that the dinosaur was moving at a speed of 4 kilometers per hour and was 6 to 7 meters long – the first record of such a large dinosaur at the Las Vegas site.

Researchers believe that dinosaurs, unknown to the species, point to the back of a displaced toe. It could be an injury – or it could be an older version of the “curved finger” that modern birds usually have on their inner fingers, like genitals or poor diet.